SCRIPTURE: 1 THESSALONIANS 4
BIBLE VERSES:
“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable” ( 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4)
“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians4:7-8)
“Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12)
“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. 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.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
LIVING TO PLEASE GOD (vs. 1-12)
Characters of a Christian that pleases God:
- Live a holy life (vs. 1-8)) – Avoid sexual immorality and learn to control your body in a honorable way.
- Love your brothers (vs. 9-10) – God has taught us to love one another.
- Lead a quiet life (vs. 11-12) – Work and be industrious. Do not become idlers and meddlers. Mind your own business.
- Hope for the Lord’s coming (vs. 13-18) – God promises to come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, then the dead will rise first. Those who are still alive and those left will caught up together with them in the cloud to meet the Lord in the air. That means there is hope to be reunited with eternal rejoicing in Christ’s coming.
THOUGHTS:
- A Christian has to responsibility to live a life that glorifies God. He has been sanctified and “set apart for a purpose”. Therefore, he should devote his body and soul to God. Sexual sin defiles a person, violate marriage vows and grieve the Spirit.
- Love is one of the birthmarks of the believer. We should love all God’s people including the lost.
- Maintain a good testimony by not meddling with other people’s affair. Learn to be quiet and to attend to your own affairs. Do not become busy bodies in other people’s lives.
- We mourn when our oved one die. But believers have the comfort of hope for the resurrection and heavenly reunion.