Living to Please God

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. ² For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. ³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, ⁵ not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. ⁸ So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

⁹ Now as to the 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; ¹⁰ for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, ¹¹ and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹² so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

In his ministry and in his writings, the Apostle Paul is continually seeking to teach Christians how to live with the goal in mind to always please God with our lives and service to and for God.

This morning we are going to look into this passage of Scripture –

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 we see that he is teaching and encouraging the church at Thessalonica to please God by their holy living.

And Paul does not leave the church in Thessalonica, having to guess how it is that they should – must – live to please God – that is, to live lives that radiate holy living, and so, living that pleases God.

So, today, this message from Paul speaks to the church, in the here and now  - in the year 2026, as clearly and as potently as it was when he originally wrote these words to the church in Thessalonica in the 1^st century.

He clearly sets out the ways Christ followers can, and must, please God.

1.   We will please God by BEING HOLY (vss 3-8) 

³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, ⁵ not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. ⁸ So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

2.   We will please God by SHOWING BROTHERLY LOVE (vss 9-10)

⁹ Now as to the 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; ¹⁰ for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, 

3.   We will please God by leading a QUIET LIFE (vss 11-12)

¹¹ and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, ¹² so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

Paul had established the church at Thessalonica on his 2^nd missionary journey.

He taught them at that time concerning how to live as Christians.

The church there in Thessalonica was being persecuted at that time.

The Christians were being persecuted to the point of being physically beaten.

They were being thrown in jail for accepting Jesus Christ as Lord.

And, so, Paul comes to praise them for keeping their faith in Jesus strong.

He also reminds them – that in times like these – it is much more important to remember the teaching they had previously learned from him.

He tells them now – “Live to please God.”

Paul does not leave the church there having to guess how they can please God.

He shows them the “how to” - three ways, in particular, how to live to please God.

He gives them three detailed applications to his previous instructions.

I.             By Being and Living Holy Lives (vss. 3-8)

A large part of living a holy life involves and includes Avoiding Sexual Immorality (vss 3-5).

Avoiding sexual immorality requires that one has control of their own body – in a holy and honorable manner and behavior.

It means that a person must avoid passionate lust which the heathens thrive on and practice freely, such as they do in today’s world.

A second part of living a holy life requires that we avoid doing wrong toward our brother (vs.6) by taking advantage of him.

And Paul again emphasizes that punishment is due to engaging in these sins.

In verses 7 and 8 Paul continues to emphasize that – as Christians – as followers of Jesus Christ – that we are called to live holy lives – we are called to avoid what is impure.

 We are to reject what is impure; we are to reject and refuse to participate in the ways that are not God’s ways – they are full of the lies of Satan and his attempts to lure us away from God’s guidelines for living holy lives.

Paul is emphatically specific in his teaching regarding the sins that will lead us away from Christ and into a world and a life of destruction.

1.   He says avoid Fornication.

a.   This simply is illicit sexual relations  - any, if fact, that are outside the marriage relationship.

b.   Paul’s emphasis here is necessary due to the existing social conditions and the religious practices of heathenism.

c.   We can clearly compare these conditions to our world today –

Loose morality --- sexual looseness – anything goes – if it feels good, do it.

It is important that we understand – in all that the Scripture teaches here – that the heathen – those who practice these sins – do not know God.

They may know about God. But there is a world of difference between knowing about God and knowing Him as God.

Knowing God – in a personal relationship – must involve a faith and a sincere acceptance of the truths of the Gospel.

2.   Show Brotherly Love – Vss. 9-10

Paul repeats a command that is not new- practice brotherly love.

This is simply a reminder of a command that is taught directly from God, and Paul is urging the Christians at Thessalonica to remember this command direct from God.

How can we best describe “brotherly love”?

To put it as simply as possible we would say that “brotherly love” is accomplished when we have a “love of the brethren”.

The warm love of “brothers and sisters in the flesh” must be present in the church, with the church becoming a “family atmosphere.”

And, that happens, of course, through

However, from what we know of the church at Thessalonica, the church didn’t need any teaching about brotherly love. They had already been practicing it.

I would say, today, that we – Princeton Christian Church – may not need any new teaching about practicing brotherly love,

But, as with most of us today – having an occasional reminder never hurts to hear.

Paul’s teaching, however, was not limited to the church in Thessalonica. Look again at verses 9-10 – Re-read

So, our practice of brotherly love is to extend outside the church building, into the marketplace – downtown, in the workplace, in the neighborhood, and so on.

God’s teaching came to us through the Apostles  – through Bible teachers – but our spiritual growth comes through and by the Holy Spirit.

Paul’s urging for the church is to do so, more and more.

We should never be content with the extent of our holiness or the extent and practice of our love for one another.