Sermon: "A Model for Daily Living - Part 1"
Have you ever heard the expressions – “Beat Around the Bush?”
Do you know what it means?
Definition: Beat Around the Bush – to avoid or delay talking about something embarrassing, difficult, unpopular or unpleasant.
This morning, as we continue our study in I Thessalonians, in fact both this week and next week, we are going to see that the Apostle Paul does not “beat around the bush” when it comes to telling Christians how to live their lives.
You may not like to hear some of the things he has to say, but he says them very clearly. He doesn’t beat around the bush.
Do you know the origin of the statement, “Beat Around the Bush?”
Beat Around the Bush – this comes from boar hunting in which the noblemen hired workers to walk through the woods beating the branches and making noises to get the animals to run towards the hunters. Boars were dangerous animals with razor-sharp teeth (you really did not want to meet one with no weapon). So the unarmed workers avoided the dense undergrowth where the boar might be and beat around it, rather than going into it. Thus, this evasive technique was termed “beating around the bush” and today represents anyone who avoids approaching anything directly.
Okay, I have done enough “beating around the bush.” We are going to do a quick review of the three models we have studied in the first three chapters of Thessalonians and then look at Part I of Paul’s “Model for Daily Living.” In other words, living out the first three models on a daily basis.
First came … a model church.
If we follow the example of the Thessalonians we will be …
- An Energetic church – serving the Lord by serving others
- An Elect church – serving the Lord knowing he has chosen us
- An Exemplary church – setting a godly example
- An Evangelistic church – by our example and by our words telling others about Jesus
- An Expectant church – looking forward to the return of Jesus
Next came a model of servanthood. We saw that a servant of God should …
- Expect and accept persecution
- Be a positive role model
With your words - and - By your life-style
- Be as gentle, comforting and encouraging as a loving mother or father.
If you are that type of servant you can expect to see …
- People accept God’s Word
- People remain faithful to God
and have
- Your own heart filled with joy.
And then last week we looked at Paul’s model for Christian brotherhood. That model looks like this …
- We must desire to be with our brothers and sisters
- We must get involved – reach out – leave your comfort zone
- We must be concerned about their spiritual welfare
- We must have a concern that prompts us to deny self
- We must rejoice over their spiritual victories
- We must pray for them
That brings us to this week’s lesson.
You can live in a way that is pleasing to God as you wait for Jesus to return by following Paul’s instructions for daily living.
First we see …
I. PAUL EXPLAINS THE CHALLENGES BELIEVERS FACE EVERYDAY
He begins by stating …
A. WHAT WE ARE TO DO
I THESSALONIANS 4:1-2 – 1Finaly, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable.
Paul says … We are to live to please God and then to do it more and more.
That’s what I call being direct. No beating around the bush for Paul … and he didn’t want to hear any excuses for he had given them instructions on how to live their lives.
So now that we know what we are to do with our lives – live to please God and then do it more and more – let’s look at …
B. HOW WE ARE TO DO IT
1. We are to be holy and pure
Paul wrote …
I THESSALONIANS 4:3a – It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.
Sanctification has sparked lots of debates in Christianity, but there is no doubt what the Greek word means that is translated as sanctified in our lesson. It means “to be pure.” He then goes on to explain what being pure involves.
a) We are to avoid sexual immorality
I THESSALONIANS 4:3b – That you should avoid sexual immorality.
Paul used a broad brush when he gave these instructions. His brush covers sexual immorality inside and outside marriage. His brush covers pre-martial sex, adultery, pornography, homosexuality and any other sexual activity that opposes God’s revealed will.
As you can see, sexual immorality has been a problem for mankind since Adam and Eve choose to disobey God.
Jeremiah said …
JEREMIAH 17:9 – The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
That is why God gives us a new heart, a new spirit, when we receive Jesus as our Lord … and that is why a battle rages within us. Our old heart or nature wars against our new heart.
When Paul tells us to avoid sexual immorality he is telling us to yield to the new spirit God has given to us.
He then tells us some things that will help us in this area.
b) We are to control our bodies
I THESSALONIANS 4:4-5 – 4That each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.
Again Paul gets right to the point. I suspect Paul would have little sympathy for statements like:
My wife is an iceberg.
My husband doesn’t meet my emotional needs.
We plan on getting married someday.
I was born with an attraction to people of my own sex.
Looking at pornography is harmless.
Many years ago my brother gave me what he called a counseling tool. It was this little baseball bat. He said I should keep it in my desk drawer and when I felt it was needed to pull it out and whack the person over the head.
I suspect Paul would have been tempted to use it when people tried to justify why they were not controlling their bodies in a way that pleased God because he knew what it required to control his own body. He wrote …
I CORINTHIANS 9:27 - No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Paul wouldn’t beat around the bush. He wouldn’t accept excuses. He would say – make your body do what is pleasing to God so that you won’t be lost to Satan.
Paul is on a roll now when it comes to avoiding sexual immorality for next he says …
c) We should not involve others in our sinful lust
I THESSALONIANS 4:6 – And that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.
Sexual sins certainly harm our own bodies. Here is what Paul wrote about this.
I CORINTHIANS 6:18 – Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.
Many sexual sins also bring destruction to others. How many homes are ripped apart each year because of sexual sins? How many children suffer because of the sexual sins of their father or mother? How many people end up in hell because they got caught up in the web of sexual sin? The Bible says …
PROVERBS 2:16-19 – 16It (God’s wisdom) will save you also from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words, 17who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. 18For her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. 19None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
HEBREWS 13:4 – Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
This morning I want to be like the Apostle Paul and not beat around the bush and so I say – If you are a follower of Jesus sexual immorality should not be a part of your life – don’t offer me excuses just be obedient.
Paul sums up his thoughts on sexual impurity by telling us that …
d) To live impure is to reject God
I THESSALONIANS 4:7-8 - 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Is that clear enough and direct enough for you?
But Paul’s model for daily living involves more than just sexual morality. He also says …
2. We are to love our Christian brothers and sisters
I THESSALONIANS 4:9-10 - 9Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
Since we spent last week on brotherhood, the only thing we will do this week is to look at how love operates. Paul himself gives us that answer …
I CORINTHIANS 13:4-7 – 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
That is how we are to treat one another. No excuses – no, but my circumstances are different – Paul says be patient, kind, considerate, unselfish, gentle and forgiving as you interact with one another.
The next instruction Paul gives us will really help you see that he doesn’t “beat around the bush.” Paul says …
3. Mind your own business
I THESSALONIANS 4:11a – Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business.
Notice Paul begins by telling us that one of our goals in life should be “to lead a quiet life.” We should be calm and peaceable. Christians need to learn how to be quiet. Christians should not be known for strife, contention or division.
Satan is constantly trying to get our hearts disturbed with one another. One way we can defeat him is to “mind our own business.”
Those who are called busybodies, who are always meddling in the affairs of others, cause great disturbances among God’s people.
Instead of meddling in the affairs of others, Paul said …
4. We should be diligent in working
I THESSALONIANS 4:11b-12 – 11bWork with your hands, just as we told you, 12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
Being a Christian does not free us from the work and duty of our particular calling. Some of you do a lot of work with your hands, such as building or repairing homes, doing dishes and laundry, cleaning, repairing cars, milking cows, cooking meals, entering information in computers, driving a truck, car or tractor, changing diapers, running a machine, etc. Others of you may do most of your work with your minds. Paul’s instructions apply to all types of work – we are go be diligent. That is, we are to work and to stay at it. He gives us two very good reasons for being diligent in working.
First – so we can gain the respect of those who don’t believe in Jesus.
A Christian who slacks off at his job or who does just enough to get by, is not a good ambassador for Jesus. We need to work hard and go that extra mile in order to gain the respect of people. Maybe then they will come to us in a time of need or listen to what we have to say.
Second – so that we won’t be a burden to others.
Christians should be diligent in working and in living within their means so that they aren’t a burden to their friends. When you are not dependent on others, but instead are able to help those who cannot work, you are doing what is pleasing to God.
I warned you that Paul wasn’t going to beat around the bush. He has more instructions for daily living, but because some of the Thessalonians had misunderstood Paul’s teaching concerning the second coming of Jesus, he takes a moment to speak to this issue. It is connected to daily living because some of the Thessalonians, thinking that Jesus was going to return any day had stopped working, and still others were concerned that those who had died believing in Jesus would not participate in the grand event of Jesus’ return. Listen as …
II. PAUL DISCUSSES THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS
A. HE SAYS THOSE WHO DIED BELIEVING IN JESUS WILL RETURN WITH HIM.
I THESSALONIANS 4:13-14 – 13Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
B. HE SAYS THOSE WHO ARE LIVING WHEN JESUS RETURNS WILL NOT PRECEDE THOSE WHO HAVE DIED BELIEVING IN JESUS
I THESSALONIANS 4:15 – According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
C. HE SAYS WHEN JESUS RETURNS THE DEAD IN CHRIST WILL RISE FIRST
I THESSALONIANS 4:16 – For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
This can be somewhat confusing since earlier he said the dead in Christ would come with Jesus. This is either giving us more details of how this will happen or this is referring to the resurrection of their bodies.
D. HE SAYS AFTER THAT THOSE CHRISTIANS WHO ARE LIVING WILL MEET JESUS IN THE AIR AND BE WITH HIM FOREVER
I THESSALONIANS 4:17 – After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
E. HE SAYS WE SHOULD ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER WITH THE TRUTH THAT JESUS IS GOING TO RETURN FOR US
I THESSALONIANS 4:18 – Therefore encourage each other with these words.
CONCLUSION
This morning, through the words of the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians, we have seen the first part of a good model for daily living.
Paul says we are to live to please God and then to do it more and more.
He says we can do that by …
- Being holy and pure – this includes, but is not limited to, our sexual lives
- Loving our Christians brothers and sisters
- Minding our own business
- Being diligent in working
and
- Encouraging one another with the truth of the second coming of Jesus