Title: Life that pleases God (1 Thessalonians 4:1~15)
Contents
Life that pleases God (1 Thessalonians 4:1-15)
Many people sing praises and confess with their lips that they want to be the joy of God.
However, there are many times when we see a lot different from when we sing that praise and when we actually live in the world.
Some people think that they devoted themselves diligently for God, but there are others who live their faith in their own way without knowing how much damage and disgrace they cause to God and to the church. Because they do not have the knowledge of God. Hosea 4:6 says that my people perish for lack of knowledge.
I pray that you and I will be able to understand, know, and obey what pleases God through today's text.
1. Be pure
(3) This is the will of God, your holiness, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.
(4) Let each one know how to take his own wife in holiness and honor.
(Verse 5) Do not pursue lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.
(6) Do not harm your brother in this matter beyond the limits, for in all these things the Lord is vindicated, as we have told you and testified beforehand.
There are countless ways to please God, but the Apostle Paul pointed to chastity first. Sex is one body.
I saw the results of a questionnaire survey that 75% of college students in Korea had no problem with premarital sex. This means that sexual ethics are being shaken.
1. The first reason that premarital sex is not right is because God is not pleased.
We must not forget that premarital sex can make them feel guilty and thus tempt the devil.
2. This is because sex is a precious gift that God has only given to married couples.
Sex is like a firewood. When a wood fire is in the hearth, it warms the whole house, but when the wood fire goes out of the hearth, it burns the whole house. Keep in mind that if it gets hot before the wedding, it may cool down before the wedding.
Men have a desire to conquer, so even if they have sex for love, they lose interest in the woman they love once they have sex. That is why, after premarital sex, there are more divorces than marriages.
I'll show you how to seduce a man. Women who express that I will run to you whenever you call are unattractive. It's because you can get a woman like that for just 12,000 yen in front of the station.
There are examples of this in the Bible as well.
David's son Amnon also loved his half-sister Tamar so much that he forcibly had sex with him.
But after having sex, Tamar hated it. As a result, Amnon is killed by Tamar's brother Absalom, and David's entire family suffers the great misfortune (2 Samuel 13). No matter how much you love, once the mystery is removed, it will be difficult to maintain your first love.
As such, premarital sex can be the seed of unhappiness.
Dear saints,
Even if you think you'll be fine, if the Bible isn't right, you shouldn't do it. That is faith and obedience. To forsake God's teachings and follow the pleasures of the world is to forsake God.
(8) Therefore, he who forsakes does not reject man, but God, who has given you his Holy Spirit.
Jesus wants us Christians not to be conformed to this generation but to be transformed by the renewing of our hearts (Romans 12:2).
To become one body is to share a soul.
(1 Corinthians 6:16) Don't you know that he who joins a prostitute is one flesh with him, for it is said, The two become one flesh?
(Verse 17) He who is united with the Lord is one spirit.
In the heat, lewd things are more prevalent. I pray in the name of Jesus that you do not become one with the temptations of the world by falling into sexual immorality, but only be united with the Lord Jesus through holiness.
2. Love one another according to the teachings of God.
The way to please God is to love one another.
(9) Concerning brotherly love, you have nothing to write about, because yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
(Verse 10) Indeed, you do this to all your brethren in all Macedon.
There were three churches in Macedonia: Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea. They were already serving and helping the world church.
(11) And, as I commanded you, be quiet to do your own work, and be diligent with your hands
However, even at this time, it seems that there were people who only talked about it with their mouths and only valued their relationship with God. I hope that you and I will love our neighbors as much as we love God.
(Verse 12) This is so that we may behave modestly toward strangers, and that we may not want anything
Outsiders here are non-Christians. I hope you show them working hard and doing your best without being rebuked by them.
One of God's favorite things to do is evangelism. If we are filled with the character of the Lord, share and love, the people of the world will naturally come to see him. Otherwise, on the contrary, if you show the selfish laziness that is inferior to those of the world, you and God will be pointed at you rather than evangelism.
3. Have the Hope of Resurrection
In order to live a life that pleases God, we must live in hope of the Second Coming of Jesus.
There are people around us whom God takes earlier than expected. At that time, it is natural to wonder why you took him so early. But he should not think of his early death as a great loss to him. We must remember that He took part before us in privileges that we have not yet enjoyed. Some people blame God for why He took them so early, but that shouldn't be the case. Look at people like Enoch in Genesis. At that time, the average life expectancy of people was 800-900 years. However, God took Enoch, whom God especially loved, at the age of 365. If life on earth was everything, Enoch would have to live a very long time. However, it seems that the Lord wanted Enoch to accompany him in heaven rather than on earth.
Remembering that a new world awaits you on the day you die on this earth, I pray that you and I will live holy lives like children of God with hope as children of heaven.