This is the Truth Network. Forever thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119, verse 89. I'm Stu Everson. Welcome to this special Wednesday in the Word Leader podcast, where we prepare and equip our leaders of this special Bible study outreach breakfast.
Every week to teach through the scriptures. Thirteen Dario locations. There's a men's group meeting and several of the Locations host the women on Thursday morning. Stay tuned. Be encouraged as we jump into this week's Wednesday in the word.
Sex, drugs, and alcohol. You might think that was the mantra of the 70s. But let's go back 2,000 years to ancient Thessaloniki and Pastor Sam Horne. There was a lot of temptation. There was a lot of attacks.
Satan, the tempter, as Paul calls him in chapter 3. He was very active. and so many things that could Harm and damage this early church, these newborn saints that Paul writes this letter to. We're in chapter 4, the first 12 verses. of 1 Thessalonians.
Pastor Sam Horne. He's going to get practical here toward the end of the book, chapter four. We've got this message on importance of sexuality and purity and. And then working hard, and then the end times will be next week. And then we've got these great admonitions, practical admonitions of.
Prayer and rejoicing and giving thanks and all these things in chapter five. Tell everyone kind of where we are, sir, in this great epistle as we enter this, kind of we kind of start downhill toward the backstretch of 1 Thessalonians.
Well, thank you. Stu, it's always a joy to be with you. I'm sorry a little bit today for my voice. I've got. What a lot of people have right now, and I'm sure some of our listeners and those that will be doing this Bible study will have.
So it's a good reminder to pray for one another. And that's what Paul says in this letter in chapter five. Just to kind of remind everybody, Paul is writing to a church. that was birth when he and Silas. Came to that region in answer to the Macedonian call, the vision, the dream that came at night.
They land up at the harbor, and their first stop is Philippi, and they see an amazing demonstration of the power of the gospel. to penetrate darkness. And of course, there's always opposition to that.
So they come on down to Berea and then they go to Thessalonica. And there they unleash the gospel. And a church is born and we saw the power of that. in chapter one when we noted that they turned to God from idols.
So they turned away from. a whole way of life.
So if the first part of the book is about really what What the gospel does, what the gospel is, and what it does. That's chapter one. Chapter two is about how those who bring the gospel. have to come with certain motives. And in a certain manner.
And so Paul says, listen, our motives were pure. There was no self-motive in anything that we did. And we came to you with sincerity of heart. We came to you with love in our heart and tenderness in our heart and care. And he gives us those incredible illustrations of a nursing mother.
and a loving father as he brought the gospel to them. And then in chapter three, we noted. As we studied together last time, the longing, the heart of Paul. As he thinks about them and as he prays for them. And he sends Timothy to them.
I think I said Silas earlier. It's actually Timothy that comes with him. To Philippi, along with Silas.
So he has Timothy sent back. To Thessalonica in chapter 3, and we find out his real heart, his anxiety, his deep love, and his prayer for them. And now, as you said in chapter four, and really going into chapter five, he's going to deal with. What it means to be a Christian. You know, it's interesting when you kind of think about.
The whole process of what it means to turn from idols, justification. is a single moment in time event it is a once and for all thing that God does when He declares you righteous. And he imputes all the righteousness of Christ to you. Once and done, there's no second justification moment. We are justified.
by faith when we repent of our sins and we turn to Jesus. But Salvation is more than justification. Salvation involves a transformation. And that transformation isn't a once and done point in time moment. It is a lifetime of change.
And that's exactly what we're reading about in chapter four, particularly in the first 12 verses. where Paul is going to really help us see what it means to turn from idols. Because idols were not just something that lived in your head. They shaped everything that you did in your life. They shaped your approach.
to morality. They shaped your approach. uh to integrity and they shaped your approach to how you uh how you related to other people idols that you worship shaped who you were. And Paul is going to have to come with the gospel now. to begin to undo things that were very deeply woven.
Into the life. of this congregation that's why i think in chapter five verse 14 He says, he reminds us, particularly when we're in a situation like the Thessalonians were in, that we are to admonish the idol. We're gonna see that in this text. We are to encourage. The faint-hearted, we're going to see that at the end of the text.
where you have people that are fearful. That they're never going to see their loved one again. They thought the gospel brought eternal life, and this kingdom was coming. And all of a sudden, their loved ones are dying. And so they're fearful.
and paul is going to have to help them he's going to have to encourage the fainth-hearted, but he's gonna also have to help the weak. And he's going to have to help them in ways that are going to strengthen them. The word weak there is probably a reference. to uh the weakness of their flash Given its propensity to behaviors that were normal for them for their entire life, that are all of a sudden now out of bounds. And Paul says we're going to have to help.
We're going to have to give support. And we're going to have to be patient with all people.
So that's kind of what's going on that leads up to this. Yeah. We saw just Paul open his heart up. Friends, go back and listen to last week's. podcast is uh we talked about the heart Of a shepherd, you know, and he just effusive love and prays.
He thanks God for these folks continually, praying for them night and day. You know, I just love if someone prayed for me once at night, you know, and here Paul is interceding for them, praying for them.
So he shows them his heart. He's praised them, he's thanked God for them. He's given them some encouragement. He's given them some reaction to his word from Timothy of their growth. But then in chapter four, Pastor Hornage, you set it up nicely.
Paul's going to, he's going to, he's going to put his pastoral hat back on. He's going to really warn them about.
some things that can really be snares. To our soul, we're in a sex-saturated culture ourselves. It's everywhere, it's on the devices that we're supposed to be using as phones. It's not just in the movies and it used to just be limited to the big screen and to certain bookstores.
Now it's everywhere: immorality, sexual temptation. And so. Pastor Horn, we have a text before us, 12 verses. Maybe you can kind of break them down or just give us an overview. We don't have to get granular with each of them, but an overview of how our teachers can.
Approach these verses. You know, he starts. With the word finally.
So you kind of have almost like a Romans 12:1 moment, you know, where you have this, therefore, encapsulating the previous 11 chapters in Romans, you have this word finally.
So he's kind of concluding his whole message with some practical stuff, and he's challenging them to abound, this language of abounding. He just prayed that for them in that beautiful prayer. At the end of chapter three, now he's challenging them to abound and to walk as he walked before them.
So this is Paul. In living the life, Timothy, Silas living the life and modeling that the Christian life is both taught and caught. And then he says, this is God's will. You know, there's a few places in the scripture, Doctor Horn, where God gives His express will. And of course, we act like God's will is hidden sometimes, or like it's lost, we gotta find it.
Well, no, it's not, because The will of God is revealed in the Word of God. But take us into these 12 verses. I kind of gave you a running start.
Now take us into these 12 verses and how we should kind of maybe. Break them down for our teachers this week, and for even pastors that are preaching through Thessalonians, to give them some help. Yeah, so there's a lot of good help out there in the resources. We've mentioned John Stott's little commentary. um the gospel and the end of time And he's got some great ideas there.
Um Dick Mayhew has a little Little work on 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. It's also helpful. There's just a ton of stuff out there that's available. I would suggest if we're going to really look at this, that maybe we look at it from four perspectives.
Sorry while I take a little drink here. We look at it from four perspectives. that that all sort of flesh out what what it means to please God now that we belong to Him. And that's really the heart of this, right? It's not about getting a better life.
It's not about being safe, it's not about. accumulating wealth in this world. It's about using our life. in ways that please him and so i think we could look at These 12 verses, like this, in verses one through two, there is this exhortation. to please the Lord.
And you can see how Paul lays it out for us. He says, finally, brothers, we ask and urge. The idea there is That this is serious, Paul. Paul, as you said a moment ago, he is coming to the end of the book. But he doesn't want you to pack your stuff up.
and say, okay, we're about to be done and I can go on to other things. You know, when you're um When you're in class or you're at a lecture somewhere. and the and the guy's been going on or the teacher's been going on for a bit and they say finally watch what people do they start packing up They slowly start closing up their notebook or their laptop. They start gathering their stuff, putting it in their backpack. Because as soon as he's done, they're out of there because they got more to do and they're going to go on with the rest of their day.
And sometimes. When you hear the word finally from the Apostle Paul. It's easy to do that spiritually. And Paul is not intending for you to do that. In fact, when he says the word finally, he wants you to sit up and take notice.
In other words, what he's saying is, this is where I've been headed. If you don't get anything else. That I've been saying to you, this is it.
So pay attention. That's sort of the word finally for the Apostle Paul. And then he's going to urge. And he's going to request. These are not like beat you on the head with the stick terms.
But they are very, very strong terrors. It's like Paul sits down. Across The table from you, and he gets your attention. And he says, Now, I want to ask you to do something for me. And I mean, I really want you to give yourself to what I'm about to ask you to do.
So that's the spirit. Finally, brothers. We ask and urge. And we're going to ask you in the Lord's name, in Jesus' name. That just like you have received from us how you ought to walk and how you ought to please God.
that you continue to do this more and more. In other words, Paul says, listen. When we were with you, and even in this letter. I've been instructing you. In how you can live, how you can order your life, what it's going to take.
as you have turned from these idols to worship God. what it's going to take to actually please him with your life. And I really want to ask you to do this. I really want to ask you to think about this. I really want to ask you to give some attention to how you can do what you've been doing.
More. I want you to really give attention to how you can grow. in your walk with God. You know, sometimes we get content. with our walk with God because it's better than it was last year.
Last year, we weren't reading our Bible. We weren't praying. Last year, we may have been living in some deep disobedience to God, and God got hold of our heart. And God gripped us and we repented and he gave us mercy and grace. And here we are in 2026.
And we are very different people than we were in 2025 or in 2024 or even in 2015 or whatever time it was. And it's easy to look at that and say, wow. God, I'm so thankful I'm not like I used to be. And Paul would sit down with you at that moment, and he would look across the table. And he would say, Hey, I've got something I want to ask you.
I really want you to think about this. I am so grateful. That you are not what you used to be. I am so grateful that you are obeying the Lord. But here's what I want to ask you to think about.
Would you be willing to grow in that? Would you be willing to push yourself even more? Would you be willing to go deeper? In what it means to please God. Listen, I'm so grateful you're not living with somebody anymore.
I'm glad you got married. I'm so thankful. That you know, you've you've given your life to the Lord and you're not going to the bars and you're not clubbing and you're not doing all those things anymore. But what about this? Would you give some serious attention?
to what you do uh with that porn habit you still struggling with Or would you give some serious attention to the words that come out of your mouth? I know that you have. abandon so many other bad behaviors, but the words that come out of your mouth are pretty caustic. And they are doing a lot of damage to people in your circle. Would you consider taking another step?
in what it means for you personally to please god more and more Paul is never going to be the apostle of enough. He always wants more. He wants more of a relationship with Christ. He wants more. He wants to experience more of the love of Christ.
He wants to take the gospel of Christ to more places. Paul is the gospel of more. And he wants you to be a believer who never is satisfied with what God has done. You always want to go deeper.
Now, let's stop real quick here. And make sure we understand. I'm not suggesting that we cultivate a spirit of discontentedness in our life because Paul is going to address that, right? He's going to tell us to be content. But being content with our state doesn't mean that we have to stay.
Content with where we are spiritually. There is this holy ambition. That we see here in verses one and two.
So, Paul says, I want to urge you to grow in grace. I want you to become a person that is always hungry for more and striving for more in your walk with God and in how you can please God and serve others.
So it's it's the idea of the Christian life. And this is the idea of we're not just in it to survive, we're in it to thrive. God wants to do God wants us to be Ephesians 3:20 Christians, where we're trusting him to do above and beyond. We're trusting him for miracles. He still raises the dead.
And Pastor Orn, I love that. And there's a, you know, this time of year, especially, we celebrate the resurrection, which is a daily event. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will quicken our mortal bodies, as Paul reminds us in Romans 8.
So I love that word in that. Resurrection power, ironically, everyone's like, Well, what does this have to do with sex, drugs, and alcohol? And of all things, sexuality, this awful, you know, temptation and seduction that so many face. Pastors fall into sexual sin, lose their ministry. It's a battle.
There's temptation, fraud everywhere. This was hitting the church in Thessalonica hard. And Paul takes us right from this message of growth right into... Connecting that.
So, Dr. Horde, connect that to. Uh how we're to You know, to sanctification. You know, you opened up this conversation with justification, you know, an event of being placed in Christ. The difference between that and then sanctification, which is really justification lived out, you know, of the believer, and then how that even applies to our sexuality and why that's so important to Paul in these verses as we kind of get to the end of this thing.
No, so in three through eight, Paul is going to come and he's going to apply what it means to please God. To a very specific area in our life, and that is in our sexual morality. And so I think it's important to understand we are never going to conquer our sexual lusts, our sexual immorality, whatever that looks like today. until we flip something in our mind because sexual immorality is built off a mindset that my body belongs to me. And I should get to use it in ways that please and gratify me.
And Paul has just flipped that in verses one and two. He said, I want you to learn to live. in ways that please God. I want you to strive after And build after, and go after, and chase after what it means to please God and not yourself. Because until I flip that switch.
I'm going to constantly just put little behavioral modifications in place that'll get me by. That'll sort of swage my conscience. and make me at least sort of presentable and respectable to others. But in the place where God knows I am and God sees who I am, I'm really not going to go hard because I haven't flipped the switch. that the gospel Changes me not just in terms of my destination, but who owns me.
I'm no longer my own. I don't own myself. My body is not my own. I don't get to do whatever I want to do with my body. And so, the first and foremost place where this hit hard for the Thessalonians.
Is where it hits hard for us. It's in the area of sexual morality, right? If you lived in ancient Thessalonica, It was every bit. as pagan and every bit as immoral as the society in which you and I live today. You know, we we sometimes um Know some of us who are a little bit older, look back to when we were growing up.
and there was pornography and there was immorality and there was homosexuality but not to the the level of openness and to the level of access. That it is today. You know, to get the access. To the immorality that our hearts craved, we had to work hard to get there.
Now, today, you don't have to work hard at all. It chases after you. It's on your phone. You may be. you know you may be opening up your bi your your your phone Intending to get to your Bible app.
In other words, I got a few minutes here. And I'm doing something and I'm waiting. And I'm going to open up my Bible app. And as you open up your phone, And you head to your Bible app, there's a notification that pops up, and you hit the notification, and it goes somewhere you never even anticipated it went. All of a sudden, there's this advertisement or this thing that pops up on your phone.
And to your honest, in all honesty, you have no idea how it got there. But it's there and it's looking you in the face. And it is tailor-made to the temptation of your heart. And now you got a battle you weren't ready for. And you didn't intend to fight at that moment.
And so when you lived in ancient Thessalonica, Sexual immorality was everywhere. You had a wife to bear your children, and you had a concubine to satisfy your desires, and everybody knew that. And everybody did that. It wasn't. at all an issue.
Um it it You just, it's how life was when you went to worship. Often you went to a temple where there was a religious prostitute. And it's part of the worship. Part of what you did in worshiping that God, particularly if you were looking for rain for your crops or for your crops to grow, you committed an act of immorality with that. with that temple prostitute or with that temple priestess.
Or priests, in an effort to honor what you were, or mimic what you were hoping the gods would do. And so When you started looking at the gods, remember we said when you looked out the window, you could see the mountain where Zeus lived? The gods were immoral. You know, Zeus's wife. Tara was constantly sleeping around with anybody she found attractive.
And she would have children. And then Zeus would find out, and he'd be furious about this. And one of those children was a half-god, a demigod called Hercules. And everybody knows about the exploits of Hercules. And so the gods were themselves immoral.
So immorality was not just an acceptable practice, it was woven into life. Bob. is going to come and he's going to say the will of God The will of the God who saved you is that you. Uh that you be saying And as the expression of that Abstain from sexual immorality. That is an incredibly powerful statement.
And he's telling us to, you know, and he gives some very practical admonitions, you know, you know, that we should possess our vessel. It's, you know, God is, God is now, we are now stewards of God's vessel. You know, Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 says, you were bought with a price, you're not your own. Right, your body is the temple.
So, the vessel that we now possess, we're to live in honor and glory to God. And it uses that word abstain, which One of the strongest words And some of the strongest language in all of scripture have to do with sexual sin. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 2: flee. Youthful lust. It's one of those things.
Joseph did it. He left. He ran away from Potiphar's wife. Because it's such a deadly sin. It's not something you negotiate with or trifle with, Dr.
Horne. And so Paul gives some strong language. This is a real important text, especially, you know, a lot of kids are cohabitating today. You know, well, we're gonna just live together. We're gonna get married anyway, save a little money.
So they're involved outside of marriage, sexually ruining each other's trust. And not doing it God's way, which is a better way. It also speaks to not just fornication, which is sex outside of marriage or before marriage, but also adultery, which is being involved sexually with someone who's not your wife, which could ruin, destroy, devastate your marriage. The enemy is aware of that, he knows what buttons to push. And he's pushing them.
And so this is true today, but it's also true in this sex-saturated world in Thessalonica, where it was, like you said, inculcated in all their culture: their worship, their work, all their customs, their sport, everything. Dr. Horne. These practical admonitions, you know, I want to encourage, we don't have time to go through each one of them here, but it's very important that all of our, Teachers, you know, spend as much time on the kids as well. It's very helpful.
And there's a lot of cross-references, you know, to yes, sir. Yeah. Let me give you three things I think that we can really put in front of people. Um and that so the first one is What is sanctification involved? What does it mean to be sanctified?
That's thing number one, because Paul says this is the will of God, even your sanctification.
So God wants this. You know, we always say, well, I just wish God would tell me what to do.
Well, here He is telling you what to do. Your life is to be lived out in sanctification. The word sanctification means to be set apart. it sometimes can be be the word holy we get our english word saint From this, every believer has been made a saint. Every believer has been set apart.
Every believer is holy. to God.
So that's what's going on here. And the particular area of sanctification, as we talked about a moment ago, is morality. And so, one of the things I think we can do to help people get this. is this, sanctification involves making your sexual morality holy. Not just abstaining.
You've got to make your sexual morality holy. I can abstain physically from sexual immorality. and still be immoral. uh in the area of sex in my mind I can see things on the internet. I can think things, right, as I'm walking through them all.
I can allow my mind to do things and engage in things that I never let my body do. And because I never let my body do them, I think, hey, I'm good. I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do. And Paul is actually going deeper. Remember, he said, I want you to learn how to please God more and more.
Well, here's one of the more and mores. It isn't enough to abstain from the act. of sexual intercourse with somebody that's not your wife. Or to engage in sexual, physical sexual activity with somebody that's not your wife. There there is This inner idea here that our whole inner life.
become sexually holy to God.
So that's the first thing. And then he's going to tell us how. And the how is in verse 4: that each of you know how to control his own body, his own vessel. in holiness and in honor. And there's a lot of debate about what's going on in verse 4, but here's something that we shouldn't debate.
Paul says that each of you know how. The word know how is the idea of learning. that that each of you learn how develop ways, understand means. By which you control your own vessel, whether it's your body or your marriage.
Sometimes the word vessel there in certain contexts. outside of the New Testament could refer to a marriage relationship.
Sometimes it refers to your body, but in either case, whether it's your body or your marriage, Paul says learn how to control that. in holiness and in honor. The word holiness there is the idea there of being set apart to God. Your body and your marriage have been set apart to God. And so that sort of is the framework for sexual activity with our body or in our marriage.
It has to please God before it pleases us.
Sometimes, Um We come to those areas of our lives, our sexuality, whether we're thinking about our body or our marriage, and we say, well, as long as it doesn't hurt anybody. And as long as it's done in a certain way, then it's okay. And God is actually saying, no, your sexual activity, your body, and your marriage belong to me. They have been set aside and set apart to me. And so what you do with them first and foremost.
has to be viewed through the lens of what pleases me. And not just what pleases you, and then secondly, it needs to be done in honor. The word honor there is the idea of something that we value. It's not, uh, when even in our marriages, when we're involved in the intimacy side of our marriage, we have to do what honors the other person, not what degrades them. not not what humiliates them, not what would be sort of dishonoring to them as an image bearer.
And there are a whole lot of sexual activities now that are commonplace. In our culture, that even married people say, Well, what's wrong with that? You know, there are whole books out there now that people are reading. There's the whole 50 Shades of Gray series that talks about bondage and other sexual practices, even within marriage. And people would say, well, you know, Hebrew says that, you know, whatever happens in the marriage bed is fine.
And that's actually not what Hebrew says. Hebrews says that the marriage badge should be undefiled. And here is Paul coming with that same idea, saying, Whatever we do, even in the boundaries of marriage, should honor our partner, should elevate our partner, should please our partner, should value our partner, should show how much we treasure our partner, versus I'm just going to use you to please me and to gratify my own sexual passions.
So, sex for the believer takes on an incredibly different. Tenor and context than it did before they were saved in Thessalonica. And then in verse five, he says, don't do it. in the passion of sinful lust, like the Gentiles do. This would include things in Paul's day.
Like homosexuality or lesbianism or cross-dressing. I mean, all of these behaviors. Were common in the ancient Greek world. All you have to do is go back and look at, and you gotta be careful because there's so much out there on this topic, but what were the moral practices and what was the moral temperature of ancient Greece? And it would shock you.
To find out what people considered normal and what they engaged in. And Paul is saying: listen, don't do. What they do in the area of sex, don't you bring that into your life? In fact, divest yourself of it. Don't live sexually like people.
Who don't know the Lord. Don't let their sexual proclivities and their sexual tastes. and their sexual desires shape yours. You let God shape yours.
So that nobody will transgress and wrong his brother in this matter. Because the Lord is the avenger in all of these things. as we have told you beforehand and we have solemnly warned you. In other words, when you abuse an image bearer, even one you're married to, because it's what pleases you. You have some sort of lust.
That you want to fulfill, and you want to get your partner to fulfill that lust, and it is actually something that dishonors them or degrades them. Paul says you need to keep something in mind. Not only does this displease the Lord, it angers him. Because you are degrading somebody that's married, that you're married to, who's actually in his image. Remember back in chapter three, we talked about the fact that everybody knew.
That if you lived in the city of Ephesus and you cursed the bust of the emperor, that you were actually cursing. the emperor that lived in Rome. And so here is something similar. You are abusing or you're gratifying yourself. By degrading or by dishonoring an image bearer made in the image of God, and actually, you're degrading and dishonoring God when you do that.
And so God has not called you in verse seven to impurity, but to holiness. And then there's the warning in verse. uh uh eight whoever disregards this Whoever thinks, oh, Paul, you're just being a prude here. You're just being legalistic again. Whoever disregards this disregards not man, but God.
Who gives his Holy Spirit to you? In other words, Paul would say it this way: who do you think is really writing this to you? Do you think it's just me writing this to you? This is coming under inspiration. The Holy Spirit that God gave you is the one inspiring me to write this to you.
And when you receive this, the Holy Spirit who inspired me to write it to you is the one living inside you who's going to give you enlightenment so you understand this and enablement so that you can live this way. And so that you can purify this area of your life and that your sexual morality, whether you're single or married, can please the Lord more and more. And so that's what's going on, I think, in these first eight verses.
So please the Lord. and sanctify your sexual morality. And you know, it's interesting because I just love this word. You know, you get to verse 9, Dr. Horn, and in verse 9, you have this word.
He calls them to love. And then You know, that picks up on the prayer that he prays that they will abound in love toward one another. And this word. You know, ultimately, you know, sexual sin is not a victimless sin. It impacts people.
It impacts. the person you're with, it impacts the family, it impacts you, it impacts. You know, your spouse, everyone.
So, Dr. Horn. He says, don't go defraud your brother. I mean, this is the word defraud there, you know, to take advantage of, to use someone. to for your own purposes.
And the word, when he introduces this word love in verse 9, it's almost like this beautiful contrast going back to the idea. And we have four words for love. In the Greek language, but in the American language, we have one word for love, right?
So I heard one pastor say, Hey, I love my wife. But then he said. I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You know, so there's a little different thing going on there. And in this idea of agape love really You know, um You know, love.
Solves really all these problems. It's the first fruit of the spirit, and we truly love each other and abound in love toward one another. And love the Lord, that is, is that not one of the greatest safeguards? You know, we love our neighbor, we're not going to defraud, we're not going to take something that's not ours from someone. in a in a selfish, self-fulfilling kind of way.
Yeah, one commentator said, don't be controlled by your body, number one. Don't take your sexual morals from the world. Don't get your sexual morality from the world. Get it from the word of God. And number three, don't use your partner.
Your sexual partner, your wife or your husband, don't use your spouse to satisfy your pleasures. And I thought that was pretty good. You know, obviously, this side of marriage is incredibly pleasurable, and Paul's going to tell the Corinthians to enjoy it, right? There's no extra holiness for having sort of a platonic marriage where this. This aspect of sexuality that's God given is not exercised properly.
But here, I think basically Paul is saying, don't let your body control your morals. Don't let the world shape your morals. And don't use your partner. Don't use your spouse to satisfy and gratify your desires, your sinful desires. And I thought that was really good.
Yeah, excellent.
So, Tega's kind of on the backstretch of these verses. He pivots. And gets into You know, of course, calls, he makes the statement: God is the Avenger. I mean, the Lord. Will ultimately have his say, and we're living to live in the fear of the Lord.
And we're to live out our life as we're in his presence, and we have the Holy Spirit of God living in us, Dr. Horne. So he gives these strong words, but then he pivots into. This kind of their work ethic. And he talks about leading a quiet life and leading a life that's honorable before Christ and really loving.
one another And because the Thessalonian church, you'd warn us even more in two Thessalonians about, you know, they were leeching off each other.
Some of them were so amped up about Christ's return that they were. living off those that were working. And not working because hey, I'm quitting my job. Preacher preached on the second coming last night. I'm going to go quit my job, sell everything, and get ready for Jesus to return.
And Paul says, God, so fast. And it's just a good word, though, of just being steady. People that are on their way to work, listen to this right now. Hey, go in there and be the best worker you can be for the glory of God. And effectively, isn't that what Paul's saying in these final several verses, Dr.
Horn?
Well, yeah, so let me just kind of review.
So, in verses one and two of chapter four, please God more and more.
So, cultivate a life. uh that pleases god more and more in verses um three all the way through verse eight Please, God, by developing. A sexual morality. That is holy. and we talked about that in verses 9 and 10 we please god by loving one another And that's what Paul says.
Now, concerning brotherly live, you mentioned that. already you have no need for anybody to write you For you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. One of the things that happens. When the gospel really saves a person, is that there is a God-given love that starts to flow out of that person. They love God and they love others.
And their love for others begins to prompt changes in their behavior. When somebody is truly converted and they have wronged somebody, they're going to go to that person and say, you know, I became a Christian. And as I became a Christian, God began to show me what I have done and how it has hurt you. And I want to come and I want to ask your forgiveness. I've asked God to forgive me.
and i'm so grateful for the love he's given me and i want to come and i want to ask your forgiveness That's an incredible thing. You have no need for anybody to write you, but God Himself has taught you. And that is what you're doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. That's why in chapter one. Paul says, listen, we don't have to tell anybody that you really got saved.
Everybody already knows about it. In fact, everybody's talking about it. It has gone throughout all of Macedonia. Everywhere I go, people are saying: Do you hear, have you heard what happened to those people up in Thessalonica? Man, something happened to those people.
They are different. And he's going to pick up on that here in this text. And what makes them different isn't just that they change their morals. It isn't just that they changed who they worship. It's really how they love other people.
These people have become genuine lovers of others.
Somebody said love is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. It's what changed you. God's love changed you. And the love of God through you will change others. And that's what's happening here.
We urge you. Brothers, to do this more and more. We want you to please God more and more. Back in verse one, here in verse 10, we want you to love each other more and more. And so I can never love you enough.
Stuff. I never love you and Julie enough. And I love you a lot, but I can never love you enough. I can never be thankful enough for what your dad invested in me. I can never be thankful for what your mom, Nancy, has done for me enough, right?
There's always a deeper level of thankfulness and a deeper level of love and even more ways to express love more and more and more. Can you imagine what would happen? In our relationships, if every day we got up and we said, How can I love my wife more today? Wow. How can I love my daughter more today?
How can I love my son more today? How can I love my pastor more today? How can I love that person that irritates me more today? How can I grow in my love for People. And here's where I would really urge our Bible study leaders not to run too fast over verse 10 here.
um because this is really where the rubber meets the road i i can nod my head and say oh yeah i need to love more praise god for god's love for me i need to love more but when you start asking me to name people i need to love i have names i'm not going to tell you Because I don't want you to know those names because I have no intention of growing in my love for them. It's too painful. What they've done is hurt too deeply. uh etc etc and and part of this sanctification that paul is talking about isn't just in my morals It's in my heart. It's growing my heart's capacity to love the people that are hard to love in my life.
And if we would adopt that, it would change our churches, it would change our homes, it would change our relationships, it would change us. Wow. What a good word. You know, God's love is infinite, it's inexhaustible. Right.
So the height, the depth, the width, the breadth of his love is just, it's unfathomable. Yet he brought it to us. He came to us in Christ greater loveth no man than this. John 15, 13, that a man lay down his life. For his friends, love covers a multitude of sins.
And so, Pastor Horn, it's just such a good word. And it really solves a whole lot of problems. It solves all the problems because Jesus Christ is love personified and He lives in us. And so, that's a prayer we should have. It's something we want to grow in.
And so, I love this last little word, and then we'll get out of here where Paul says, Hey, this is going to spill out. To people on the outside. You know, people on the right.
So that's our final thing. Yeah, that's our final thing in verses 11 and 12. Paul brings it home and he says, okay, you want to please God more. you know you want to have a sexual morality that is distinctly christian right that doesn't use people and doesn't gratify desires. By demeaning others, but is actually holy to the Lord.
You want to grow in your love for one another in very tangible ways, and you want this love to grow more and more.
Well, here's how it can work. And so, here's I'm going to give you three things I want you to do. And this is what he says: I want you to aspire to live quietly. The word quietly there doesn't mean that you don't talk, it doesn't mean that you zip your lip. It's like, well, Um, I'm a talkative person, so does that mean I'm not supposed to talk?
No, that's not the idea here. It means that you are living a peaceful life. Your life is not a life of chaos, it's not a life of conflict. You aren't interjecting yourself everywhere. Because you've got something to say, and it's just disruptive.
In other words, Strive, aspire to be a person who is not disrupting life. your life or the life of others. That's the idea. We've all known people, and the minute they walk into a room within 10 minutes, there's chaos. People are hurt.
uh rumors are starting They poke something. It's like, you know, I was out the other morning and there was an anthill. in my backyard, this pile of dirt the ants had all dug up. And I stood there and I thought, you know what? If I kick this pile of dirt.
Ants are going to be everywhere. If I just leave it alone, they're going to be there, but they're going to be contained while I go get the ant poison. And I couldn't help it. I couldn't resist. You know, it's just like my foot had a life of its own and I kicked over that pile of dirt.
And ants went everywhere. And I brought out the ant poison and I put it on, but the next morning there were more ant piles. Whereas if I'd just kept my foot shut. I wouldn't have put it. the ant pile right well this is the idea here we interject ourselves so many times Uh where we should And I'm not talking about You know, ignoring sin.
There are times where we got to confront it. We got to come alongside. Paul actually says, you know, you need to encourage. The weak, you need to rebuke the unruly in chapter five, as we saw in verse 14. But here he's saying: listen, strive to be a person who isn't disruptive.
You know, how do church fights start at the business meeting?
Somebody's always disruptive. How do relationships go astray?
Somebody's always disruptive. How do friendships get strained?
Somebody always disrupts them. And Paul says: don't you be that person. You aspire to live a life of shalom, a quiet life. And then, secondly, mind your own business. You've got enough to do in living your own life.
Don't go try to tell everybody else how to live theirs. Don't interject yourself in sinful ways. In other people's lives where you really don't have standing.
Now, again, that doesn't mean I don't raise my kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That doesn't mean, as a spiritual leader, as a pastor, or an elder, that sometimes I don't go to somebody and say, Hey, I'm noticing this behavior. What's happening here? What it does mean is, I'm minding my own business that literally. I'm making an effort to attend to my own life, right?
My own business. Here, and he's setting us up for this: that you're not living in an undisciplined way. that that we are not living in a lackadaisical Lazy way that has time to just sit around and be critical of everybody else and interject ourselves into everybody else's life. And it's out of that sort of idea that he says. Work with your hands.
As we instructed you.
So the idea here is work hard. He's going to find in 2 Thessalonians. a group of brothers Who have seized on the teaching, and you mentioned it earlier that the Lord is coming. And so they're using it as an excuse to be lazy. They're not working.
And they're coming to everybody else for a meal. Hey, can I come eat with you? Can I, you know, there's legitimate times when we're supposed to help those in need. But this is not one of those times. Here's a brother who's refusing to work.
And he's interjecting himself in the very ways that Paul is prohibiting here.
So I would say that verses 11 and 12 in chapter 4. Are a big reason for what he's going to say in 2 Thessalonians 3, beginning in verse 6 to the end of that chapter. And so the last thing you said is is here's why here's why you're to watch your morals sexually Here's why you're to love each other. More and more. And here's why you are to work hard so that you can walk properly before outsiders.
In other words, When the outside world of unbelievers looks inside the church and they see the same morals. that govern them the same immorality in you that is in them The same lack of love. toward another that's in them And the same abuse of laziness that's in them. In you, why would they want your gospel? You you need to walk properly.
uh before outsiders And stop using one another. Be dependent on nobody is the idea there. It's not the idea of don't get help when you need it, it's the idea of don't abuse your relationship with people. Be a giver and not a taker. Because everybody else around you has these morals.
and they are unloving and they're using each other.
So don't you do that. You walk a very different way. uh in front of them And you do this because you love God more and more and you love each other more and more. And that's really the heart of the book. Yeah, the the world sees our love, they see our lavish love for one another.
Many of these believers came to Christ.
Some were Jews, some were Gentiles.
Some were on the high end of the societal ladder totem pole. Others were poor paupers, but they loved each other. Just like Jesus said, by this you'll know, they'll know, the world will know. That you are mine by your love for one another and the sexuality part, and then in how we work and how we. We stay true.
And we stay level even in politics and even in the cast of culture. Dr. Horn, it's just, you put it so well. My one takeaway that's helped me, I heard a pastor say this once about sexuality. He said, and this is really good with young people.
I love this illustration when I was younger, especially when you're dating. He said a fire. Is really, really good on a cold day. A fire. Is wonderful in your home, but You don't want to build a fire.
On the sofa. You want to build, you don't want to build a fire. in you know in the kitchen you know on the kitchen table You want to build a fire in the fireplace. And sexuality is a gift from God. But it is to be built in the place God designed it, that is, marriage.
And this is what Paul, Paul is fiercely protective of that. In honoring God, God's Holy Covenant of marriage in his words here, and really it's a witness to the world. And you know, I tell a lot of couples that are engaged and that aren't moving in together, I say, Hey, you have a great witness. Everyone's people are watching you and how you handle this situation. You know, I know it's tough, I was engaged once myself, believe me.
But how you deal with that and how you honor Christ with that is a real testimony. To a lost world, and it'll be a testimony for generations to come. And then, how you work: work is worship. You hate your job? Stop it.
God's got you there to be a witness. You might be the only believer in that place. You might be the only Jesus they ever see, the only Bible they ever read. Dr. Horne, Great Passage, 12 verses, 1st Thessalonians chapter 4.
We'll hit the second half of this chapter.
Next time, getting into the great return of the king, which is this overarching theme of this whole book, take us out here with a prayer, brother, and any other final word you have.
Well, so it's a wonderful passage and a good reminder that that the grace of God changes people and it should be changing us. Lord, I thank you that we can be together and talk about this wonderful portion of your word. May it live in us. Um put out by your grace and through your power. We're grateful.
For what you have done for us, and we ask that your good hand would continue to bless us. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Thank you, Dr. Horne, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast.
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