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Hey, I’m going to invite you this morning to turn with me to First Thessalonians chapter four. There’s where we’re going to be together today, and first Thessalonians chapter four. And we’re going to dialog, I think, over an important topic for all of us to understand, and that is how to discover God’s will for your life. It is an important question, I think, for all of us to answer in order to live a meaningful life. And in addition to that, it’s also important question to answer, because we are in a lack of understanding of what God’s desire is for your life and living out his will for your life. You can find yourself under really religious oppression and abuse. In light of that. Like I can tell you this morning, I’m going to tell you exactly what God’s will is for you, which I am going to do that. But some people can come to you and say that to you for the purposes of manipulating you to accomplish what it is they desire for you, not not necessarily what God wants for you. So but by understanding the answer to this question only, does it enable you to live a life meaningfully in the Lord. But it also helps you avoid walking a path of of really being abused by others who might try to lord over you. And so this this chapter is critical for us in terms of our own relationship with the Lord.
But then when you think about the the idea of the church broadly, this is a very powerful book for us to be walking through together as we looked at the church at Thessalonica. And we’re going through this over the next six weeks. This is week four. And one of the things we’ve recognized with the Church of Thessalonica is that the apostle Paul spent a minimal amount of time in this church, just just three weeks. He was at Thessalonica teaching them. But this church made an incredible impact for the sake of the gospel, not only in their city, but in what we refer to as modern day Greece, and even beyond that. And so when we look at this church, we should be asking that question how do we they do that with such just a minimal amount of time with the Apostle Paul teaching them yet such an incredible impact in their lives? And we looked at this together that it really begins. And on the basis of understanding your own relationship with the Lord. In fact, if I just jumped right into the text this morning Paul really summarizes it like this, he says finally. Then, brothers, we ask in urgent, let me just stop right there before I read on. And I want you to recognize that the tone at the beginning of this chapter is really a summary of thought now related to everything we’ve we’ve come to understand. And he’s saying, okay, in light of this here, finally, here’s what I want you to do.
Here’s how you live in light of understanding your own relationship with the Lord, which is critical for all of us to understand, because there’s a religious way you can approach a relationship with the Lord. But there’s also the biblical way to approach your relationship with the Lord. And we certainly want to walk not in a religious way, but in a biblical way. In a religious way. It would often work like this where I better figure out what God’s will is, and we stress out about it so that we can perform in order to please God so that God might accept me. And so I’ve got to figure out what it is I need to do in order to make God happy, so that then God can invite me in, and then I can have that relationship with him. And I want you to know that is backwards from biblical Christianity. That is not that is not how our journey begins. And this is what the Paul is really expressing to us in this word of the. Finally, he’s reminding us, like as we looked at him. First Thessalonians chapter one. Your relationship with the Lord doesn’t begin because of you. It starts because of him that all of us have alienated ourselves from God because of our sin. God’s holy, we’re not. And no matter how much religion you perform, you can never avail yourself back to God because we’re sinful before a holy God.
And that’s only worthy of judgment. But the beautiful news is that God not only created you for him, but he wants to recreate you in him. One of the questions we asked last week very important is like, do you really think that God created you because he needed something from you? Meaning that sometimes in a religious way of thinking, we we sort of get in this mentality? God created me because he needs me, and I better figure out what God’s will is for me so I could perform and do that thing in order to make God happy. And so God made me because he needs me to do this, which which I encourage us to just think through that thought a little bit, because if we’re just being honest with that, if we’re we’re suggesting that God needs us, then we might also be suggesting that God in some way is inadequate and that he needs me to perform in order to satisfy him. And if you follow that kind of a god at some point that God will disappoint you. A God who is who is inadequate. Rather, I have encouraged you to think of it like this that rather than God creating you because he needed you, he created you for a far better purpose. It’s not because he’s dependent on you. There’s no one in this room that’s going to do anything where God is going to be like, oh my gosh, right? Like, wow, that just blew me away.
You know, God, is there anything that you think that you can do? So great. God can do it a million times better, right? There’s not like there’s not like this terrible need where God is like, oh, I can’t wait till Sunday. They just need to. I really need to hear them praise me. I’m just so dependent on, you know, I’m feeling inadequate. That’s that’s never happened. Never will happen, right? That’s. God didn’t make you because he needs you, brother. Something more beautiful he created because he wants you. God is love and love by nature gives itself away for the benefit of someone else. And God made you because he needs you. And get this even in your sin. He didn’t give up on you. He continued to pursue you with his very life, that he sacrificed his life on the cross, that you could find freedom and forgiveness and new life in him. And so our life in God doesn’t begin based on your performance. Our life in God begins because of his performance, what he’s done for us as we come to him. The greatest gift that you can offer God today is not your performance, but your heart. You come to God with empty hands and you just offer to God yourself because God created you for him.
And until your life has given over to him, you’ll never discover that. And this is what Paul is saying about this idea of finally he’s he’s attaching for us where where he began in this story of helping us understand the theological backdrop of Christianity. Anytime you read epistles that usually are written this way, there’s this this place of theological understanding of who you are in light of who God is. So then it leads you and how you then live your life in light of your understanding of who God is and who you are in relationship to him. And so Paul is giving this summary of thought. He’s saying, okay, here, we’re going to drive towards this aim. This is what we’re looking for now in light of your relationship with God. What does this look like in your life? So he says finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us how you ought to walk to please God, just as you are doing that, you do so more and more. And so Paul is saying, God’s desire for you is to live a life that’s that’s pleasing to him. I think this is very critical for us to think about, because when we deal with the will of God, there’s going to be a struggle in this. And until we see that the greatest pursuit of our life is towards this aim to glorify God and please him forever.
And there is this reluctance in humanity. There is this struggle in all of us to embrace this thought. And it’s been often said that you can only lead as, as, as far as you’ve been trusted, right? The value of trust is as far as someone can lead you. And the same is true in your relationship with the Lord. That you’re you’re never going to truly follow God the way you’re called to follow God, unless you entrust to God your life. But in order to entrust God with your life, you need to know that you can trust God. And so, learning who he is and who you are in light of that is important for all of us. And in order to do that, that’s what that’s what leads us to this place of pleasing God. Like, Lord, when I, when I, when I, when I feel confident that I can trust you, that I will entrust myself to you and therefore I can please you. And this has always been the struggle with humanity, even for us today. Like when you go to the very beginning of the Bible, that’s what you recognize with the life of Adam and Eve as God created them for his purposes, the deception of the enemy. The serpent in the Garden of Eden was to get them to question God’s good for their life. Surely God didn’t say, do you really believe God knows better for you than you do? Don’t you think you might know better than than God in this? Even though God created us for his purposes, our struggle is to put ourselves on the throne and live for our personal pleasure as if we are God, rather than trust in the one who created us for his purpose.
And so we’re able to lead at the level of trust, right? Any leader in this world, they’re able to lead at the level of trust. The greatest of leaders is God. But the struggle for all of us is to really believe that God, you are enough. And Lord, I see the way that you’ve given your life for me. I mean, that’s what the the cross of Christ is intended to be for all of us. Is this, this, this tangible place of God expressing genuine love for you and for me by giving his very life so that you could be set free. I mean, it’s it’s not just an expression of love, but it’s certainly an expression of love. And and even more where the justice of God is satisfied. As God poured his wrath out on Christ, and the forgiveness of God is made known for your life and for me. So, so when we think about in our own struggle, when we come to that place, we realize man, God, God did make me for him and living my life for my own glory as if I’m God is is never truly going to find its fulfillment for my created purpose by looking at me, but rather when I’m willing to surrender my life to him.
So how do I do that? And what does that look like? What is God’s will for my life? And that’s what Paul says in verse three, for this is the will of God. And I didn’t give you the answer yet, but I want you to know this is where Paul is driving you to. It’s like he wants you to understand what God’s will is for your life. You know, being in ministry for, I don’t know, a while now, I get asked this question fairly often, like, how do I discover God’s will for my life? Or just someone trying to hunt God’s will for their life? And they and they come to me, you know, and dialog over, you know, what they’re going through in order to discover God’s will for their life and where they think it might be and what they think it might is. But, you know, usually when I find someone asking this question, What’s God’s will for my life? Or seeking this answer, they sort of pursue it like it’s a dot in life. Like, I gotta find this thing that God made him for a purpose to do something. And if they could just find that something, then they’ll be satisfied. So they they go on this hunt of looking for that one thing they need to do.
And then then it’s going to be enough. As if God created them again for a job. That’s their primary purpose that they think, right? They kind of describe it that way. God created them for a job. And so I got to find my job so I can find my worth and what I’m what I’m about. And can I just tell you there’s there’s certainly a great things God wants you to do in this world, but that’s not the primary reason for which God has created you. I mean, when you think in terms of looking for God’s will in your life, like it’s this dot and you just look at biblical history. I go back to the Old Testament. I think about the life of Abraham. Do you realize Abraham was in his 70s before? God said to him, I’m going to send you to a place. And by the way, you have no idea where you’re going, right? Could you imagine that following God’s will and you’re like, I don’t even know where this is going to lead me, but I’m just going to go, right? Like, he’s in his 70s before he goes on this journey, and then he finally gets a dot. Like sometimes in life, you might be fortunate to find a dot for some time, but I think God’s will is different than a dot. Or what do you think about the the life of Moses? You know, when Moses comes before the burning bush and God tells him to go tell Pharaoh to let his people go? Moses is 80 years old.
He’s lived 80 years before he’s given a dot. Or even the apostle Paul who’s writing the letters to the Thessalonians and the apostle Paul was a believer for over a decade before he gets sent on his first missionary journey. Are we to suggest, and if God’s will is adopt something that you’re supposed to do, that these three individuals that gave you example of or are living outside of God’s will because, well, Abraham was 75, 75 years without God’s will because he didn’t find his dot. Is it looking at that, that kind of way of thinking, or we love to suggest that, you know, until you find your dot, you’re never really in God’s will. So you’ve got to spend your life just searching for it. I mean, that’s a lot of life that you can spend. And let me just tell you, you might go your entire life and never truly find the a particular dot. Does that mean you live your life outside of God’s will? I mean, what what is God’s will? Paul. Paul describes it for us like this, for this is the will of God. Get this. Your sanctification. Your sanctification. Here. Here’s what. Here’s what Paul is saying, by the way, that’s the blink in your notes if you want to fill that out.
But this this is this is God’s desire for your life. God’s will for your life is your sanctification. Another way that we often phrase it is holiness. And even looking at this term, sanctification or holiness, I think we have this tendency as people sometimes to mis define what this word really means. Sometimes people might say it like this well, God wants me to be holy. God wants me to be sanctified. That means God wants me to stop sinning. I don’t need to do bad things anymore. I need to be sanctified. That’s God’s will for my life. Or we might even say it like this I better do good things, right? Like, I don’t want God to be bad at me. I better not do bad things. I better do good things. And I want you to know that’s that’s a part of holiness. That’s a part of sanctification. Vacation, but if that is the way you define it, you are going to absolutely miss what God’s will is for your life. It is. It is far more beautiful and far more important than just don’t do bad things. Do good things. And some of us, that’s how we live our lives. And that kind of a religious mentality where we just want to, you know, better not make God mad with the bad things. I better do good things and enough of them that God’s going to be happy with me.
We tend to think in that way, but the word sanctification is so much bigger than that. The idea of sanctification is really embracing this new identity that you have in Christ, that you realize gives you a far greater calling in this world. Because get this the number one thing. You have a relationship with him. The idea of sanctification, the primary thing that drives sanctification is your relationship with Jesus. So the idea of sanctification is being set apart to walk in the newness of this relationship with God, as God has given his life for you, and you have given his your life to him. Now, don’t get me wrong. Like I think if you don’t do bad things, that’s probably a good idea, right? And like, if you do good things, that’s. That’s a good idea too. We should. That should be wonderful, right? But the thing that that drives this is not about doing good or doing bad. That’s not your aim. Your aim is my life has given over to a whole new purpose because it’s been set apart because of what Jesus has done. Jesus has given his life for me that I can belong to him, and now I can walk in that newness of life. In fact, in first Thessalonians chapter two, verse 12, it tells you to walk worthy of the calling that you have in Christ, because you belong to a new kingdom and a new king.
And so now it’s this idea of reorienting myself in a relationship with Jesus, living in light of that relationship with him and honoring him and the things that I do. Right. So so it begins with this idea of of not just a behavior, but a but an identity and a relationship of of truly belonging to Christ and and walking in the in the joy of that. I define it like this A life. Sanctification is a life lived to the fullest and relationship with God. It’s like saying, I have finally found the purpose for which I am created, because I have found myself recreated in him. And so now I can live my life to please him because I belong to him. And I’ve entrusted myself to him because he has demonstrated himself trustworthy. And finally, I’m free to live for the reason for which I exist, and I can live it to the fullest because of my relationship with God. It’s the beauty of sanctification is a powerful idea that when God’s people gravitate to this, they live with an incredible power in their community that makes such a difference not only in their own personal lives, but in the lives of people around them. But here’s the next question. Related to that is how do I know if I’m living in God’s will? How do I really know? Because I can just say, you know, I’m sanctified.
I belong to the Lord. Like, how do I really know that this is. This is the way I’m living my life? And let me just tell you it. It starts with the basis of your surrender to yourself. Right? The most beautiful gift that you can offer God today is not impressing him with who you are, but really empty hands to God. It’s. It’s your life, right? And in light of that, then God does his transforming work. So how do I how do I know that I truly am living in God’s will? Let me give you this answer. We should see it this way by examining your behavior. By examining your behavior. Your life is evidence of what you’re truly trusting in, right? So I’m not saying this to you this morning to say, okay, look at your behavior. And if you don’t like what you’re seeing, modify your behavior. What I’m saying is you’ve got to take it a step further than that. Right. This is not about throwing guilt and shame for our failures to just get you to modify your behavior. This is about pausing for a second and saying, my living is a reflection of my own heart. So therefore, what is my living saying about what truly sits on the throne of my heart? Who’s really in charge of my life is my pleasure for myself, as if I sit on the throne? Or is that the Lord who truly sits on the throne? Your living becomes this this reflection, this mirror to your your own self.
My, my life reveals my heart. Or sometimes they’ll say it like this. My, my doing flows from my being. Doing God’s will flows from being in Christ. Or at least it should, I said so. The the life that I’m living is evidence of where my the throne of my heart, what it’s given over to. And so in different season of my life that I go through different circumstances that I experience, the way I choose to respond in those moments is revealing to me where my heart is or isn’t surrendered to him. Do I really trust in him or do I not? Am I really believing he’s enough, or am I am I not? And God gives us this, this place of recognizing it and and not only recognizing, you know, sanctification, but but to also recognize that sanctification is an ongoing process. This is not something where I say, you know, Jesus died for me, so I give my life to him and I just kind of move on from that. But but in every season of my life, I have the opportunity to say no above anything that I can live for. To find my identity, my purpose, my pleasure. Jesus alone is my pleasure. Jesus alone is what I trust in. And so I get to every day and different moments throughout the day.
Surrender my life again and again in that sanctification. And this is critical for us to think about, especially in our worldview here in America, because what we’re taught as from from a tiny age in our country to to here we are as adults is the most important thing that you can pursue with your life is your own personal pleasure. And I know pleasure certainly has a place, right. And pleasure is important. But when we make our lives ourselves, the center of of the universe, and just simply pursue things for my pleasure alone, because I matter more than anything. What we often do is start to use everything else in this world as a tool to serve me, including other people. You know, when you go throughout history, you discover that that idea is not exclusive to America. Like certainly Americans are, we are an individualistic society where we build things for our self-identity and worth and pleasure. That is true. But in every society, there’s been a struggle in that to some degree. Like something I found interesting this week because I was going back and studying this. I found this place in Pergamum, which is in modern day Turkey. This is a health spa in Pergamum that helps you deal with depression. And they had these isolated rooms where individuals can go sit by themselves in quietness and rejuvenate themselves. But what’s really interesting about this place is, is along the rooftops of the different places of the spa.
There were holes that were bored into the facility, and these priests that ran this fall would walk along the top of the roof, and they would stick their mouths over the holes and they would just say encouraging words, which I thought, that is so creepy, right? You just think you’re trying to relax and someone saying you’re awesome. I was like, that is so that is so weird, right? Like that is that does not feel relaxing. I’d be like, stop looking at me. Go away. Right. That is that is. But the things we go to to try to find personal pleasure, like the answer really and we understand this from biblical framework is, is not look deeper in you but look beyond you to the one who’s created you for his purpose. So, so how do I know if I’m living God’s will? Paul encourages us to examine our behavior, but he does this in a specific way. So there’s there’s different ways that we can conduct our life in which we can examine to see, okay, is God alone, my joy? And Paul is saying, let me just give you a particular example for us to look at this God’s will for your life is your sanctification. And then he just swings a heavy hammer, and he says it like this, that you abstain from sexual immorality. One of the ways that Paul is saying, have you really trusted in God as as your true pleasure is based on, on this thought of, of sexual morality.
And here’s a few things that he’s teaching us in this idea. One is it is critical to think about not only your spiritual journey, but how that impacts you physically. Because what you truly believe in your heart, you live with your life and and look your soul in your body certainly are distinct, but it’s also important to recognize that they are intertwined. Right. So when God created you, he created you holistically, body and soul. God. God made you as a being for the purpose of glorifying him and surrendering yourself to him in the way that you live your life. And the way that you surrender, is truly demonstrating what you find as Lord of your life. And so Paul is saying, you want to you want to really examine this, like, just look at your conduct. And here, let me give you an example. How about your sexuality? And when Paul talks about this, you know, he’s mentioning abstain from sexual immorality, but he’s also acknowledging by by talking about sexual immorality that there also is a sexual morality, a way that you can use your life for, for the purpose of honoring God in the things that you do. And so, Paul, he’s he’s encouraging us in this mentality to think about it like, if Jesus truly is Lord of your life, that determines how you use the things of this world, including your own body, we can say it like this that God has created everything in this world for his glory, but it’s what you do with it determines if you’re truly honoring God with it or not.
And there’s a few ways we can respond to those things, right? You can look at things in this world that people take and they use contrary to the Lord. And we can say, oh, it’s bad. You know, we don’t we don’t want to do that. You can even do that with Sexuality, right? Like people use that for the wrong things and so. Well, you know, as a Christian, you can sound like a real stick in the mud when it comes to sexuality. And God gave you sexuality with pleasure for a purpose. But to understand that the the point of that purpose is to glorify God. And when we glorify God through it, we can we can be a blessing in the expression of it, no matter what it is. So God made everything in this world for his glory, but it’s what you do with it determines if it’s honoring to God or not. So knowing people might use things to dishonor God. You can. You can just ignore it and toss it aside, right? Or you can you can understand the importance of it and just really surrender it to him. Right. Like, we we can we or we could use it for our own gratification.
Right? You can ignore it. You can gratify yourself, or you can submit it to the Lord and understand he’s created it for his purposes. What you do with the things God’s given matters, including your sexual morality or immorality. Paul Gosar says it like this. He says that each one of you know how to control his own body and holiness and honor, not in the passion of the lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God. So here he’s elaborating a little bit further, and he’s he’s saying, look, God has given you so much in this world to, to to glorify him and to bless others, including your own sexuality. And there’s a way that you can use it for that purpose. But then there’s a way other people use it to abuse. And I’ve often heard it like this, that sexuality sometimes has been compared to the thought of fire. And it says it like this, that when it comes to fire, when fire stays confined to its purpose, it can be incredibly beneficial. It can provide warmth, it can provide light, it can help you cook your food incredibly beneficial. But if it goes beyond its boundaries, it can be incredibly damaging. And this is one of the reasons I think the apostle Paul is saying this is because he’s helping the Thessalonians now shape what it truly means to find their identity in God and live that out according to his will.
Because if you study first century Rome, first century Rome was doing things that would make even Vegas blush today. I mean, first century Rome had all kinds of practices with their sexuality. They just treated it as common. That was completely dishonoring to God, to the people around them, and to their own bodies. And when you go back and you study first century Rome, you see the idea of temple prostitution practice galore. A lot of people were enslaved, and being a slave, you were seen as property. And it was almost expected that that especially the men of the home would treat those slaves however they wanted, including using their bodies for their own personal pleasure. Even pedophilia was something that was not frowned upon. It was expected that men would take young men and groom them for the purposes of their pleasure, especially if they were young men that were slaves within their home. And so all sorts of immorality practiced in this way. And it goes beyond even that. I’ll just stop there, because I’ve probably said too much already with young girls in here. But I’m just letting you know, like when we come to the Lord understanding who I am, body and soul given over to him is a way of saying, Lord, I trust that you are enough and what you desire for my life is a relationship in you and in walking in that relationship with you.
God, I get to be a blessing to the people around me. And you know, that can look all sorts of ways and the way that you live your life. It can look formally or informally, but but to live as an incarnational expression of Jesus in this world, as God’s desire for you and for me. Alright. So you can come to a gathering of God’s people and you can get like, you know, a ministry and a title and, and you can serve in that capacity and that that can be important. And it has a place. Right. But it’s also important to recognize that no matter where you go in this world, God’s desire is your sanctification. You learn what it means to give your life over to him as he’s given your life for you, and then you honor him and the way you move forward. Even in terms of your own sexuality, as Paul is expressing in this passage, there’s certainly a pleasure to it. And God’s created it for a reason that it’s intended to be a blessing to everyone. But as it’s aligned with the Lord. Let me give you this, this example, this I’m to tell you. I had a few examples, but for sake of time, I’m just going to give you one. I remember before I moved to Utah and I’ve always been reluctant to share this, so please know I’m not making political statements in this.
I’m just going to hand you a mess and just say you think through it. Okay? Before I moved to Utah, I used to lead college students on mission trips to inner city Baltimore and did this a handful of times. It was a great experience. I don’t know how many of you have ever been to Baltimore, but if you’ve ever been to Baltimore. One thing you quickly noticed is the actual inner city of Baltimore is pretty much 95% ghetto. I mean, it’s a rough place. You got the Inner Harbor where the Ravens and the Orioles play, and then two blocks past that, it gets rough. In fact, I found that out the hard way. One on the 4th of July. One night, I ran out of gas and I had to walk to a gas station. And I passed two police officers on the way, and they were like, don’t, don’t keep walking. You need to go back and explain to them why. And they said, it’s not going to go well. And I was like, yeah, whatever. And I went on and I got chased by a mob saying they were going to kill me. So that was that was a good introduction. But but going there multiple years, I spent a week, anywhere from a week to ten days taking college students up multiple years in a row. And I saw gang fights, gun people getting shot by guns, like tough, tough stuff.
Just a lot. Well, I don’t want to get it all, but a lot of difficult things happening. And I even had one time where I got, I got pulled over by myself. I was in a white, unmarked van, so that’s not ever good, but but I was in a white, unmarked van, and I happened to pull up to the church where we were working, which is right in the heart of the roughest part in Baltimore. And the reason I know is the roughest part is doing ministry at that church. There was one time where I asked a young man to get get in the car, and we piled in our group and I’m like, hey, I want you to take me to the roughest place in Baltimore. We just want to see it, because we’ve done ministry here multiple times. So I’ll get in the car. He’s like, yeah, just get in the car. I’ll take you there. We’re like, okay, we get in and he’s like, okay, go. And we got to the end of the block and he’s like, it’s right here. I’m like, are you kidding me? Like, you could have just pointed. We didn’t have to get in the car like we did. So so seeing that I get pulled over by a cop in the same van and the cop comes up to me, and the cop will never say this today, but, you know, 20 years, 20 plus years ago, this is what he said.
I think I rolled in, I’m like, why’d you pull me over here? Because I couldn’t figure out. He’s like, I pulled you over because you’re white. Like what? That doesn’t. You know, that’s not just racial profiling should not say that. Right? And he’s like no. Anytime we see and the cop one was African American, one was white. And he said anytime we see. Someone coming in this neighborhood that does not belong in this neighborhood, it’s for the wrong reasons. And he pulled me over and just informed me, and I just happened to say, well, I’m getting out and going to this church because we’re doing the ministry. And I just remember sitting on the steps of, of inner city Baltimore doing ministry, and, and I was with this individual had done ministry there for decades, had a miraculous story in how he came to Jesus. African American man, deeply loved his community, wanted to make a difference. And we’re there just to encourage him and support him. And I remember it’s like midnight. He’s in his upper 60s at this point. He’s since passed away and he’s with the Lord. But I remember saying to him and what is wrong with Baltimore? Like, I remember that same day I’d taken a kid to the emergency room and, like, we were way down on the list because we were sending emergency room people like gunshot wounds.
I’m like, man, we are not going to get out of here fast tonight, right? But I just remember looking out thinking, what in the world is wrong with Baltimore? And there’s little kids just running the streets and, and and he said to me, you know, Nathaniel, in the 1950s and 60s, I remember as a kid it wasn’t like this, like, really. And I just remember asking, what what happened? And I’m just trying to figure out how how can we make our short time here meaningful. He said, you know, in 1950s and 60s, it wasn’t like the community was perfect. But but I remember riding in a in a Cadillac with my dad and my mom going to church, and that’s what most families did. And in Baltimore, we weren’t, you know, necessarily everyone wealthy or anything, but we were intact families enjoying the day. And then he said in the 1960s and 70s welfare was introduced into our community. Fathers were kicked out, kicked out of the home, and a generation of children were raised without their fathers in the home. And this is the result. And like, I don’t know enough about inner city Baltimore to make a judgment call one way or another. I’m just listening to a man for years who has struggled to try to do his best to help his community. And I cared about the ministry. I cared about that man. Right. Like, you know, I hand that to you and say, do with that what you want.
That’s just what he said after decades of ministry there. And, you know, I look at that and I walk away. And what what says to me is how critical and important it is that we understand our identity in the Lord. Not not just spiritually, but how it impacts who I am bodily. Now, it’s not to say home lives were perfect and the steps that were taken were perfect. And, you know, whatever about I’m not trying to make a judgment or Baltimore. I’m just repeating what this guy said. But, you know, the same implications can be made in our own life. And we we move with a lack of understanding of how who I am in Jesus impacts what I do with my life, and then it trickles into the lives of other people. Because when I live life for my pleasure, the result is I’m going to treat people like tools in order to serve me. But when I live life for his pleasure, I understand who I am in light of who he is. And not only do I find my life completely satisfied in him, my life becomes a blessing to the people around me. I got to move through this faster. So he says this verse six that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.
Verse seven For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Verse eight therefore whoever disregards this disregards not man, but God, who gives His Holy Spirit to you in order to save time. Let me just tell you this in verse six. He’s saying like this when you don’t live your life for the glory of God, you will not be to the benefit of others. When you don’t really trust your life to who Christ is, as if he’s enough. What you’re going to do is take advantage of others, he says in verse six. Not only does it take advantage of others. Verse seven, it’s hurtful to you. It impacts you. And then in verse eight, ultimately it impacts your relationship with the Lord. And so thinking in light of all that becomes important for us in the decisions that we make. My life is a mirror. The decisions that I walk in as a mirror to what’s truly happening in my own heart. And he goes on verse nine, now concerning brotherly love. Oh, let me give you this. And I read verse nine, last point. What does it look like when a life is given to God? It’s this glorifying is the first blink and blessing is the other glorifying God and blessing others, glorifying God and blessing others. Can I just tell you right before I read this, the whole point of this for all of us is not to say, you know what’s wrong with you? Terrible people, guilt and shame.
That’s not that is not what we want at all. But to recognize God is gracious and forgiving. God cares about me. God created me to know him, to walk with him. And Jesus is enough. And to trust in that and to enjoy that relationship with him and see every moment of life and every every gift that’s been given is an opportunity to glorify God and bless others as I find my life filled in him. So the goal of today is not guilt and shame, but to help us understand what truly God’s will is. And he goes on and and says this in terms of glorifying and blessing, not concerning brotherly love. You have no need for anyone to write to you. For yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. For that indeed is what you are doing to the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more. I mean, he he’s really saying a few things here. One is that when your life is really given over to the Lord, the way it’s designed to, you can truly love people the way that you’re created to because you stop treating them as as tools for your own life. You stop even looking at God as something just to to serve you as you look at life for your own pleasure, but rather you find your life submitted to him and therefore you become a blessing to others.
You’re really able to love people the way that you’re designed to, to give your life sacrificially in verse 11, and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands as we instructed you. Now, this doesn’t mean like you live in absolute soulless and you’re just quiet. You never say anything. As a Christian, what Paul is saying is like, look, Thessalonians, what’s happened in you and what’s happened to you because of Jesus has so radically transformed your life. It is like disrupting society right now. So here’s what I want you to do. I don’t want you to just rub this in people’s faces, but just keep gently honoring God as you move in this world. And verse 12, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and being dependent on him. And so he’s saying like that, your life, the way that you choose to use your hands, the things that you do glorify God and His benefit to the people around you, including your own self glorifying and blessing. When you understand what the will of the Lord is. I’ll close with this. I usually like to pick dead people as my examples, because I always feel like dead people can’t disappoint you. But. Or maybe they can’t. I don’t know, but but this, this lady in particular, I just wanted to share with you for a couple of reasons.
One. Her name is Rosaria Butterfield and Rosaria Butterfield. Wrote I’ve probably I’ve read well over a thousand books in my life, and Rosaria wrote one of the top ten most impactful books I have ever read called A Gospel Comes with a House key. But the reason I wanted to also use her is not because she’s influential in that regard, but but because her own life was finding an identity in sexuality that was contrary to the Lord. And she talks about her own faith journey in coming to Jesus from the world that she was in to where she is today. And she wrote about it in a book called The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. And this is what she says in that book. She says the goal of the Christian life is not to fit in. It is to stand out as a person transformed by holiness. God doesn’t call us to clean up our lives, so we come to him. He calls us to come to him. And in coming, he makes us new. Because as we just picked one thing related to sexuality, I mean, that’s true for us in every area of our life that God wants us to surrender all that we are to walk in the newness of life, of what it means to belong to Jesus. God’s will for your life is your sanctification, not just do good, don’t do bad, but rather belong to Jesus. And in so doing, fulfill the purpose for which you are created in Christ.