1 Thessalonians 4:9-14 (Part A)

Concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.

Now the Greek word there for brotherly love is philadelphia, where we get Philadelphia. It is a strong love. It is a good love. It is not that spiritual mighty love of God, but it is a good love nonetheless.

We have much to say and much to do with this type of love in our lives. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Thessalonians.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, here's Pastor Rick in 1 Thessalonians 4 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Let's open our Bibles to the 1 Thessalonians 4. We will resume at the 9th verse, contrasting what the Scripture says in the prophecy of Daniel with something that is said in the Revelation.

And I'll read 1st Daniel. There Daniel says as he's getting this vision concerning the end times, and this particular part of the vision is concerned with Antichrist who is to come. Antichrist will start off Antichrist, but he will end up the beast, and then he will be finished off. But there it says in Daniel chapter 8 verse 25, Through his cunning he shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule, and he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the prince of princes, but he shall be broken without human means.

That description applies to politicians, a particular one, today. And then there is the statement in Revelation 6, and I will pause to say I do believe Antichrist is alive. I also believe the church will not know who he is. We will be taken out of here before he is revealed, before he is turned loose.

But the stage is set. And here in Revelation 6, in the second verse, we read, And I looked, and behold, a white horse, he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. And so there, again, is Antichrist coming on the scene. He comes in as an aggressor. He comes with weapons. He has a false peace he brings.

Violence is in his heart. What does all this have to do with what we're doing now? What does the Antichrist, in referencing these prophecies concerning him, have to do with verse-by-verse analysis of Proverbs and then verse-by-verse analysis of Thessalonians?

Well, I think it is just this. That ministry goes on in the midst of prophetic revelation and fulfillment. We as Christians, yes, we certainly want to know what the Bible has to say about the future. That's why God has said something about the future, so that we would know. And at the same time, we still have to reach the lost and be strong as Christians. So it is all relative to make a big mistake by concentrating too much on prophecy and a big mistake by ignoring it, to find that balance. Well, this chapter does deal with the rapture of the Church. And there are those who do not believe, there are Christians who do not believe in the rapture of the Church, and I'm not going to take the time to share the opposing views. Why?

I'm under no obligation. I don't agree with them. I think they're wrong. I'll share with what I find in the Scripture, and you can make up your own minds.

And there are plenty of endless debates out there. One last note before we begin the verses. The Church will be spared the great tribulation period such as the world has never known. The Church will not be here except the apostate Church. That Church will be here. These aren't single churches. The apostate Church is any church that has fallen away from the faith. We no longer believe in the exclusivity of Jesus Christ and his claims. We believe there's other ways to heaven also who are more concerned with people than they are with God, and they are outside of salvation. But the true Church, those believers who love the appearing of Jesus Christ, whether it is in their hearts or before their eyes, they love him no matter what. They will be taken out of the tribulation period and not die.

We'll get to that as we go through. Now, verse 9, before we get to the end times part, Paul is still wrapping up some business with them concerning their behavior. He says in verse 9 of 1 Thessalonians 4, But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. Now, the Greek word there for brotherly love is philadelphia, where we get Philadelphia. It is a strong love. It is a good love. It is not that spiritual mighty love of God, but it is a good love nonetheless.

We have much to say and much to do with this type of love in our lives. And this in contrast to the carnal cravings that he had been dealing with in the earlier parts of this very chapter. Verse 5, for example, he says in contrast, Hold up brotherly love, and you have no need that I should teach you about this.

John the apostle will write about this in his first letter. He says you don't need to be taught some things. Now, he's not saying you do not need to be taught, neither is Paul saying that. Because they're teaching them as they're saying this.

Obviously, we need instruction. But there are some things that God says, I'll take this one personally. And love is it. We learn love, yes, by watching others, but it is God who is giving us the understanding. And we first come into this agape love, this higher love of which this philadelphia love is built upon by the love we receive from him as Christians. You know, when a Christian comes to Christ, he realizes in an instant, woe is me, I'm a sinner before a holy God. And had it not been for his love, I'm going to hell.

And that's the whole story. And hell is not for a moment. It is eternal. And we recognize in this flash that God stuck his hand down and grabbed us because he loves us.

And we respond to this. Now, Paul had witnessed these Thessalonians. They were schooled in love. They knew how to love each other. And these human beings, they had a common love, a philadelphia type of love. But now in Christ, it was stronger. It had more meaning.

And it was without end. And he comments on this. He wants to let them know, I have witnessed that you have brotherly love. Well, you say, why doesn't he just say agape love? Well, one reason is, you know, you have those people that are Christians, which we are, hopefully. They can love God, but they can't seem to love brothers, sisters. That's wrong.

That needs to be fixed. And they try to hide behind this. Well, I just love the Lord. Yeah, well, if you love the Lord, you're going to love people. You might not like them too much, but you will be looking out for their best spiritual interests without hesitancy. And so he says, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, God teaching his own. Now, we all know how awful lovelessness is when we have been the victim of it. Now, a selfish person is nothing you can do to tell them their love because they're just insatiable.

They're all about themselves, and anything that's not pleasant is immediately spun around. But I'm not talking about that group. I want to read this from Mark chapter 28. It's a common verse. And by common, I do not mean trivial or powerless.

It is very powerful. In fact, it belongs to the Old Testament. The Shema of the Jew would recite as a daily prayer. And it is when Jesus is speaking, quoting, he says, Then one of the scribes came, having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, that is, the scribe is asking Jesus, which is the first commandment of them all?

What's it all about? And Jesus answered him. The first of all the commandments is the Lord our God is one. He is absolute. This strengthens the Trinity in the context of this Hebrew and the rest of the Old Testament.

But he continues. He says the Lord our God is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength and your soul, everything you've got. You love God. And then he says, this is the first commandment, and the second is like it. It is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these. But you cannot love your neighbor properly if you don't love God first. The love of man, of sinners, comes through the love of the sinless, God. By loving God, we understand how we're supposed to love one another.

And if you try to just do it because someone has programmed you to do things, you will have a love built on feelings and you'll constantly be confused. You'll always feel guilty. But when you understand that God loves you and he's not looking to smash you upside your head and that he's not calling you to do everything, then you have freedom because you're free from this guilt, this power. I think one reason why many Christians believe the church goes through the Great Tribulation period or part of the Great Tribulation period is because they themselves have guilt, born out of legalism. They don't understand grace. When they speak of grace, it's sovereign grace.

It's not grace when they start doing things, playing with it. All grace is sovereign. Judgment is sovereign. Everything from God is sovereign. If God gives you a penny, it's sovereign. And so there are these well-meaning believers who I think, when they read Scripture and they come out with their Bible studies, they are built on a sense of personal guilt. We should go through the tribulate.

Why? God promised to take us out of it. And so there is no second commandment if the first is reduced, if it is ignored, if it is tampered with. And that first commandment is you love God with everything. I don't mind telling my children I love you after God. God comes first. There's so much love.

There's enough of it to go around you won't even miss it. That's what Jesus said. He said, how about you're loving your neighbor like you love yourself. You've got so much self-love built inside of you that you can love the world and no one would miss it. You can only understand these things in the light of Christ. And so His love instructs us to recognize others and to show this love towards others even when they're not very loving or lovable. Some of you have had more contact with them this past Thanksgiving at the family table.

It's like, man, I can't believe we got the same DNA. But that's how it is and you know it. But what to do about it? Be righteous, be blameless, and don't be mean. He continues in verse 10. And indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia, but we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more. Well, again, He witnessed their love and He says, don't be satisfied with any victories you may achieve in love. It's going to be new challenges.

It needs maintenance constantly. And so don't let your guard down when it comes to love. There are those, again, who think affection is love. They think that peace comes through some, you know, if we could all just get along and get the guns away from the good people, then only the bad people will have them and will love them as they're shooting us to death. Now, they don't say it that way, but that's the rationale behind such folly. They have a misguided understanding of what peace is.

They don't understand. There is going to be peace until the Prince of Peace comes and enforces it and extracts those who will not come under His authority. And whenever you have these, you know, if we can all get rid of nuclear weapons, it would be great, but it's not going to happen. Bad guys are always going to look to get the upper hand, and if the good guys allow them to, then you have what happened in Holland and Poland and all that part of Europe when they were not preparing for war, but that Nazi war machine was in full gear and it just wiped through Europe like nothing could stop them.

The line, the French line just crumbled, and there's an example of evil arming itself and the relatively innocent doing nothing. Well, okay, back to this verse 11. He says that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business. Now, that's my inflection on that. And to work with your own hands as we commanded you.

And there another New Testament commandment. We're commanding you to this. Don't be lazy, a freeloader, a moochoff of people. If you can get a job, get one.

If you can't get a job, look for one and hope and pray that you can find one. But I love this. You know, live the quiet life as best you can. Someone's always not going to be satisfied with you living a quiet life.

They have to disturb you. Something will come along and, you know, the Nazis were the true space invaders and you think clutter is, but their evil is a space invader. And you have the nice space of peace.

It will come and try to take it all away. And the quiet life as opposed to the self-centered life is one that has to be governed even by God. And he says to mind your own business. How many Christians need to have that tattoo? You want a tattoo? Tattoo that one on you, on your hands. Not on your forehead because you can't see it, but unless we issue you mirrors. But anyway, mind your own business, good advice, and work with your own hands.

Focus on farming your own field, not someone else's field. That would make you a transgressor and remembering that laziness is not a virtue. Verse 12, he continues, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing. Those outside are the unbelievers.

That's who he's referring to here. And, you know, we don't want the world to accuse Christ of leaving us ill-equipped. But that's what happens when we stop minding our business and stop being the Christians we're supposed to be and we start behaving like the world and identifying with them in Jesus' name. We begin to crumble. Satan, if you have a group of people and one of them is a Christian hanging out with non-believers on a regular basis, he's going to target that Christian and not those unbelievers. He's going to work with them.

They're already on cruise control. It's you he wants to get at so he can besmirk the name of Christ. And so if Jesus is all that he says he is, then why is it I can't snap out of certain things? Why do I lack love and joy and why do I lack kindness and faith and self-control? Well, these things must be worked for.

They do not come naturally. They are spiritual. But spiritual does not mean magical.

It still is an involvement. We must be involved with the Lord. And so, again, if Jesus is all that he says he is, then why do some of the Christians go to the world for guidance and instruction and comfort? Not to Christ and not to the church and not to other Christians.

There's a disconnect there. Let's know what Peter says about we being in a superior position because of who we belong to. 2 Peter, he says, his divine power is given to us all things that pertain to life.

That leaves out nothing, all things. He says, and to godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by knowing him not just book knowledge but personal knowledge with Jesus Christ living the Christian life. He continues, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises. The imperatives, the Christian life promises big things. He says that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. That is powerful. Through these promises and what God gives, you may be partakers of God's nature.

That's what it says. You'll be like Christ. And he says, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. All types of lust. Lust for self, fame, fortune, sexual lust, anything sinful. And then in 1 Peter he says, having a good conscience that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. They might not be outwardly, but inwardly they are when the righteous are blameless before their eyes. Persecution comes from that.

Can't pin anything on them, let's kill them. And so is going to be the behavior of Antichrist. And now we come to another section in this letter. Paul is now dealing with the end times questions that the church in Thessalonica asked him through Timothy. Remember Timothy's coming back with a report and Timothy says, by the way, I have some questions for you, Paul.

Paul taught them about the end times as new believers. But there was a confusion about separating the two comings of Christ after his resurrection. Christ comes twice. The first time he comes for his church, he does not put sandals on the ground. The second time he comes with his church and he will put his feet on the ground. The Bible makes this very clear. And so to separate these, he's going to deal with this now.

And so in verse 13, he says, I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. Well, again, he is going to separate the rapture from the second coming on the calendar of God. And they're two separate events. There is the second coming of Christ, the second advent.

Well, let me put it in order. First, there is the rapture where the church is extracted. The believers do not die. God calls them home. There is precedence for this in scripture.

Elijah is one, went up on a chariot of fire, did not experience death. But this extraction of believers is clearly taught in the Greek language, in the English understanding. There's no escaping it.

I think pastors have no right to withhold. This blessing of hope given to us in the prophecy of Jesus Christ into scripture in both Old and New Testament is illustrated. It is clearly declared. It is in type.

We have it laid out before us. I find it inescapable. Even the very word is in scripture, and we're coming to that. And so he says, concerning those who have fallen asleep.

Well, this is a euphemism. It is a soft way of saying they're dead. And the Christian really goes to sleep. Jesus said, he who believes in me shall not die. And if you're not afraid of going to sleep, then death should have the same approach by the Christian as sleep. And this is what the New Testament teaches. All of these in the Bible have experienced death, with the exception of, of course, Enoch and Elijah, but our Lord experienced it. All will experience the resurrected bodies.

And so 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 1, Paul writes to them. He says, for we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And so the soul is made out of the same stuff eternity is made out of. What is the soul?

That's you. That's you without your body. Everyone has a soul. Unbelievers have a soul.

That is who they are, each individual. The spirit is dead until it is born again. That is life from God, born again. God breathes life into us yet again and making you in the image of his son. It gets back on track and is finally fulfilled when we are glorified, when we receive, are received into heaven. The soul does not sleep.

The body does. Now, we don't hear too much about this today, but there are those who taught soul sleep and it's just such a silly little thing. The scripture laughs at it, mocks it. I mean, you have Stephen being stoned to death and he sees the Lord standing up to receive him into heaven. Do you think he received him into heaven to put him to a nap?

Glad you're here, Stephen. Now, get to bed. Your soul has to sleep because somebody made up this screwball doctrine. Well, God's not going to honor screwball doctrines at all.

Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, what, did they have to wake up so they can make this appointment and go back to bed? It's not rational just on the surface. Never mind, it's not taught anywhere. Those who teach it are up to mischief. They have other doctrines they want to push down your throat if you're foolish enough. You know, when the church came out of the Dark Ages, having lost so many doctrines, Rome had plunged Christianity into the darkest ignorance the church has ever known. And when the church began to come out of it, they had barnacles of wrong information attached to them and it took centuries to get it all off. You know, the teaching that when you take the communion, it mysteriously turns into blood and his flesh. That's cannibalism and Jesus never preached it.

He never even entered his mind. And yet, you have those who came out, some of them held to that. They still do to this day. Transubstantiation is the doctrine it's called. And they still believe this mystical thing happens. You know, that's the kind of stuff that makes people think Christians are kooky and won't listen to us preach the truth. You make a big mistake, I think, when you go into that area.

But anyway, that's a side note. Suffice it to say that there is no purgatory. There is no soul sleep. The Bible teaches clearly in the New Testament that when a Christian dies, they go right to be with Jesus. When Jesus said to the thief on the cross, Today you will be with me in paradise. That's what he meant.

And if anybody had cause to go to that place known as purgatory, that would have been that thief, that outlaw on the cross. you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross-Reference Radio. You can search for Cross-Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app as well. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of 1 Thessalonians right here on Cross-Reference Radio.