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More Please! (1 Thessalonians 4:1-2) | Worship Service This stream is created with #PRISMLiveStudio
Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.
All the reaper's Come and rejoice in His great love,
O praise Him, Alleluia! Christ has defeated every sin,
Cast all your burdens down on Him, O praise
Him, O praise Him, Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! He shall return in power to reign,
Heaven and earth will join to sing, O praise
Him, Alleluia! Then who shall fall on bended knee?
All creatures of our God and King, O praise
O praise Him, O praise Him, Alleluia!
Praise the One who breaks the darkness with a liberating light,
Praise the One who frees the prisoners, turning blindness into sight,
Praise the One who preached the gospel, healing every dread disease,
Calming storms and feeding thousands with the very bread of peace.
Praise the One who blessed the children with a strong and gentle word,
Praise the One who drove out demons with a piercing two -edged sword,
Praise the One who brings cool water to the desert's burning sand,
From this well comes living water, quenching thirst in every land.
Praise the One true love incarnate, Christ who suffered in our place,
Jesus died and rose for many, that we may know
God by grace. Let us sing for joy and gladness, seeing what our
God has done. Praise the One redeeming glory, praise the
One who makes us one. O great
God of highest heav 'n, occupy my lowly heart.
Own it all and reign supreme, conquer every rebel power.
Let no vice or sin remain that resists your holy word.
You have loved and purchased me, make me yours forevermore.
I was blinded by my sin, had no ears to hear your voice.
Did not know your love within, had no taste for heaven's joys.
Then your spirit gave me life, opened up your word to me.
Through the gospel of your Son, gave me endless hope and peace.
Help me now to live a life that's dependent on your grace.
Keep my heart and guard my soul from the evils that I face.
You are worthy to be praised with my every thought and deed.
O great God of highest heav 'n, glorify your name through me.
From Jim, interrupting the class and letting me know that they had arrived in Seattle, so they'll be, they'll all be home soon.
So that's good to know. Second, before I forget this, because Casey would not forgive me, choir after church, choir practice after church, about 15 minutes after Cornell gets done, which we don't know how long that could be.
So 15 minutes after that. Okay, turn to, turn your
Bibles to 2 Peter 1, 2 Peter 1, verses 5 through 12, we have scripture reading for today.
2 Peter 1, 5 through 12. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self -control, and self -control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with faith.
And steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he's blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election. For if you practice these qualities, you will never fall.
For in this way, there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Therefore, I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.
Let's pray together. Father, we do pray that you would use your servant
Cornell this morning, and use your word preached through him, and help us to be good listeners of that word.
Pray that you would sanctify your saints to the power of the living word of God this morning. That's our prayer.
We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together and sing,
My Savior's Love. My Savior's love, my
Savior's love, what could compare, what tongue could tell?
My Savior's love. What tune could carry on its wings the beauty of that final breath?
What words dare paint the awesome scene when God stood in the stead of man?
When Jesus Christ, the radiant one, took on the shadows of our hate, then rose again just as the sun, with light and power and full disgrace.
My Savior's love, my Savior's love, what could compare, what tongue could tell?
My Savior's love. And when in death this tongue is still, my song of life has reached the end.
Though as a flower I may wilt, this everlasting truth will stand.
No death or life could separate me from the love of Christ my
Lord. This hope is sure from age to age, my song will be forevermore.
My Savior's love. My Savior's love, my
My Savior's love, my Savior's love.
This morning's reading comes out of Psalm 119. It says, deal bountifully with your slave, that I may live and keep your word.
Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things from your law. I am a sojourner in the earth, do not hide your commandments from me.
My soul is crushed with longing for your judgments at all times. You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, who stray from your commandments.
Take away reproach and contempt from me, for I observe your testimonies.
Even though princes sit and talk against me, your slave muses on your statutes.
Your testimonies also are my delight, they are my counselors. We're going to end our music service this morning by singing
Speak, O Lord. Speak, O Lord, as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word.
Take your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in your likeness.
That the life of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Sing, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory.
Teach us,
Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility.
Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity.
Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority.
Words of power that can never fail, let their truth prevail over unbelief.
Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds.
Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us.
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity.
And thy grace will stand on your promises.
And thy faith will walk as you walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory.
Amen. You may be seated. Good morning.
There's an anecdote or a cultural, I guess it would be a cultural saying that isn't,
I don't think always true, but I would like you to be thinking about it as we prepare to hear from God's Word.
Who do you ask to get something done when it needs to be done? Do you ask someone who's not busy or someone who's busy?
Now, that's not always true, but it's something to think about. Let's open the word, let's open this morning in prayer.
Father, we thank you that you have given us your Word, that it is everything we need, that it is all we need.
Your Word is the embodiment, the outpouring of words into our lives of your Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and it is in him that we find our being. This morning as we look into your
Word, would you give us grace and wisdom to pursue better holy living that we might more effectively show the world the
Lord Jesus Christ, both to our families, our friends, and to the world at large.
For you have given us this grace to do, and we thank you in Jesus' name. So, let's look at the context here.
We're going to look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and I'm going to read the first nine verses. We're probably only going to get through two of them, but it'll be fun.
1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the
Lord Jesus that as you received from us instruction as to how to walk, how you ought to walk, and please
God, just as you actually do walk, that you may excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the
Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the
Gentiles who do not know God, 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 told you before and solemnly warned you.
For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. Consequently, he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the
God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. So last time we were together, we looked at the last three verses of chapter 3 in this book.
Paul had broken into prayer begging the Trinity to send him back to Thessalonica.
He also asked God to cause that little church to abound in loving one another and other people in the same way that they had been doing, that Paul and his companions had done themselves.
And it was for that purpose that Paul continues on. Finally then, brethren, and that's an interesting statement, which if I can turn the page, we'll get to.
It is here in chapter 3, verse 13, we're going to look at verse 11 through 13 to kind of remind ourselves of where we were coming from.
Remember the chapter and verse application in the Bible was added in the 9th century.
Originally, they weren't there. And sometimes the chapter breaks are good. Sometimes they lead to more confusion, not necessarily here, but I want to read 11 through 13.
So he says, As we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face and may complete what is lacking in your faith.
Now, may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you and may the
Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all men, just as we also do for you, so that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before our
God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all of His saints. So this is the first, the second coming, mention of the second coming.
The first time was in chapter 2, verse 19, 1 Thessalonians 2, 19. For who is our hope, our joy, or joy or crown of exultation?
Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? And then in 1
Thessalonians 3, 13, we saw, so that he may establish your hearts without blame and holiness before our
God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. He will mention the second coming again in verses 4, 15 and 5, 23.
1 Thessalonians 4, 15, he says, For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that those that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the
Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. And then in chapter 5, verse 23,
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Four mentions in this book are made of the second coming of the
Lord Jesus. And indeed, at the end of chapter 5, in and at the end of chapter 5, he will treat the subject in some detail.
And when we get there, we will look at that in some detail. Here in chapter 4, commencing with the word,
Finally, finally then, brethren, which is an interesting translation of a word that means something like, now
I'm going to quote this, but this is not Scripture. This is my take on this. He says something like,
Now that I have dealt with the introductory remarks, here are my instructions, close quote. This is a transition point in this book where Paul goes from doctrine to application.
Now that's not to say that there isn't doctrine in the section that's on application. Of course there is. But it's more of a pure nature before this and less of a pure nature afterwards.
More of this is, here's what to do with what I just told you. Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the
Lord Jesus that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk, and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you excel still more, adequate, satisfactory, passable, sufficient, presentable, all right, acceptable, decent, tolerable.
Do I sound like a thesaurus? That's where I look this up. Reasonable, okay, respectable, competent, up to snuff, up to scratch, up to par, not bad, serviceable, suitable.
So these are words that are synonyms with good enough.
Have you ever seen that in the New Testament? Okay, you're there, you're good enough, you're serviceable, you're passable, that'll do.
Now sit down and shut up. God never says that. What does
God say about good enough? To the Thessalonians through the Apostle Paul, we shall see that he said never harbor the concept of good enough as a philosophy of life.
Throughout the Scriptures, there are plenty of people who never considered stopping at good enough in their service.
Sold into slavery by his brothers, Joseph was in and out of prison in his teenage years and early 20s, having done nothing wrong at all.
Maybe a little braggadocio here and there, but he never really did anything serviceably wrong that we can ascertain from the
Scripture. He was forgotten, he was lied about, he was mistreated, and yet he always strove for more.
Psalm 105 actually gives us a reason for all this happening. We get to see why
Joseph was so treated. Joseph was sent ahead into Egypt to be the protector for Israel, and because he strove for more, he ended up in the only position that he could arguably occupy where he could be of use to Israel.
And he had to get there through the pain that God sent him there through.
Psalm 105, 17 through 21, he sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
They afflicted his feet with fetters. He himself was laid in irons until that time, until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the
Lord tested him. The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples, and set him free and made him lord of his house and ruler over all of his possessions.
That's why Joseph was sent to Egypt the way he was sent. There are multiple other examples throughout
Scripture of individuals for whom good enough was not acceptable. David, Moses, Gideon, Daniel, Josiah, the list goes on.
The life of a servant of God is not driven by good enough, but rather by a pursuit of excellence.
Paul's choice of words by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit here is characteristic. He uses a word that is translated by the phrase to excel,
I exhort you, I exhort you. The word is the
Greek word parasuo, and it connotes the idea of superabounding. It means to be abundant, to exceed, to increase, to perform way over and above.
Interestingly enough, and I actually had this comment thought of prior to hearing this morning's
Sunday School, but wouldn't you all like to have employees like that who their only thought was,
I haven't done enough. I need to do more. Actually, the Scripture talks about someone who's done enough.
He's what's known as an unprofitable servant. So that's the translation.
He's saying that after all our observations in the preceding words, there's no question what Paul is saying to the
Thessalonians. He says, you are an exemplary church. You're living out in the
Christian life the embodiment of the Word of God. You are following what Christ has asked you to follow in love, in service, in giving.
But we are calling you to compete with yourself and to do more, Paul said. Do better.
Do the best. Do better than the best. So is your walk with Christ today satisfactory to you?
Is there no more you can do to increase your love, better your obedience, remove bad habits or vestiges of bad habits, train yourself to better service, or learn to love the brethren more?
Have you achieved the nirvana of the Christian experience? And by the way, nirvana is a little town outside of Des Moines, Iowa.
You want to go there? Probably pretty cold right now. You're the best self you can be. You're the best self you can be in service to God right now.
Now, of course, no one who is a careful, humble student of the Word of God would ever think this way.
Paul himself admitted late in his Christian walk that he was nowhere near perfection. The Apostle Paul did.
In his letter to his beloved Philippians, he reminded them of the wickedness he had perpetrated on the church before his salvation.
And then he encouraged his listeners and his readers, that would be them in that day and us today, that though he had achieved great things and many things, he considered them useless and rubbish so that he might gain more of Christ.
He spoke of stretching toward what was ahead, and that which was ahead was the upwards call of God and Christ himself.
It was like he was without stretched arms, straining towards the Christ that he loved, reaching towards him.
This is what the Greek word connotes when it speaks of it. It is straining, a stretching to attain something.
And that something was life, and eventually, for Paul, death in Christ, and for all of us, precede if we're not here at the second coming.
Philippians 3, 7 -14 bears reading, But whatever things were gained to me, those things
I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing
Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain
Christ and may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead, not that I have already obtained it,
Paul said, or have already become perfect. He said that too. But I press on so that I may hold, lay hold of that for which
I also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. First Christ laid hold of him, then he laid hold of Christ. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing
I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
There was nothing for Paul but Christ. There's no direction but up toward Christ. There's no value but the value of Christ and the blessed slavery that Paul himself experienced in service to him.
And so that is what he is encouraging the Thessalonians toward. This is in some ways an antithesis of looking back and seeing what we've done and using that as a baseline to excel beyond.
Paul told the Philippians that he looked back to all the things he had done very well in service to the Sanhedrin and the
Jews and noted that he counted them as rubbish and ground them into the dirt with the heel of his sandal.
I added that. Remember when Eve added and not even touch it?
It's not good to add words to Scripture unless you mention that you just added them. He pushed them, the
Jews, the Galatians, excuse me, in the other way in the direction of disdain, disdain those things, stretch forward, do more, be more.
Even that bit of personal history he uses it to spur his readers to greater heights of service to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here he uses two words to provoke the Thessalonians onward. And by the way, the King James uses that word in Hebrews chapter 10 and I love it.
We're here to provoke one another to love unto good works. Okay, I'll do that. It's a good thing.
The first word is request. He says, finally then brethren, we request and exhort you.
This is a gentle suggestion that is spoken to or offered among peers. It's not a military command.
It's not any kind of command at all. These precious people had already demonstrated time and time again they had their devotion to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was asking for more of the same and better.
Paul and his companions had carefully instructed the believers in Thessalonica how they ought to walk in a manner that would please
God. But for a believer, good enough is never good enough.
There's no such statement as, well, that's good enough for government work, in Christian service, or in this case, spiritual work.
For the believer who loves Christ, more is better. Better is not enough.
The best is to be achieved or at least sought. Remember the word translated as excel means to super abound, over and above.
The second word he uses is exhort. Finally then brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus Christ.
This comes from a Greek word which means to come alongside and encourage. While it can be used authoritatively, here in context it is coming from a heart of pastoral love for these people.
Paul is encouraging, urging, and lovingly and strongly suggesting that the Thessalonians take their walk with Christ to the next level.
Remember from the first three chapters and even here we are reading about people who took the gospel call tremendously seriously.
The Thessalonian church was a working, active, God -loving, God -serving church. Paul is not, he's not reprimanding them, he's not correcting them, he's not changing their minds.
He's encouraging them to continue and to do more. He loved the direction they were going and yet he wants them to go further.
This is always the expectation, the delightful and blessed expectation for every believer, for every slave.
You know you're a slave. You're a slave. Everybody's a slave. Scripture says we're slaves to something or the other.
We're either slaves to ourselves, to the flesh, to the devil, or we're slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the word slave, you know what the word slave means?
It doesn't mean devoted servant. It means slave. And I'm going to read some later on, we'll talk about that a little more.
Jim came up with an excellent subtitle for the book of Hebrews using the mathematical symbol for greater than, indicating that Jesus is greater than everything.
But more specifically in the book of Hebrews to the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, the things of the
Old Covenant, the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. This is a good way of looking at what Paul is encouraging here to the
Thessalonians and to us today. He is encouraging a walk that is greater than the walk they have now. This is a walk that is a blessing to him already.
It's a blessing to him already. And those that worked to bring in the gospel to them, the other workers, they were blessed by what the
Thessalonians were doing. The general idea here is that believers should always be striving for more.
More excellence, more devotion, more love, more. It brings to mind the old hymn, more about Jesus would
I know. Know more, love more, and do more. It could be a motto. So this is accomplished by learning more about the wonderful Messiah we serve.
And the way we learn more about him is in his word, his written testament to us, which is a representation of just who he is.
We have everything we need to improve our service, strengthen our walk. Deepen our relationship with the
Lord. Jesus contained, we have everything we need.
Everything we need. And it's contained within the once for all delivered scriptures. Remember, in 2
Timothy 3 .16, the apostle Paul said this. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.
You know this. You've had it in Sunday school. You've heard it in systematic theologies. But I'm going to walk through it again.
Remember, Peter said, I'm not ashamed to put you in mind of things you already know. Teaching is instruction, doctrine, learning, and teaching.
Oh, go figure. Reproof, elenchus, is refutation, reproof, rebuke.
Properly, it's to convince with solid, compelling evidence, especially to expose, to prove wrong, to correct.
This was one of the things that the scripture does for us. Correction. Properly, an intensification of making something straight.
Have any of you pulled nails from old boards and hammered them straight? Did you really think they were perfectly straight?
Mine were. Although usually when I did, the head was still kind of cocked like this. But when you hit it that first time to connect a new board with that old nail, the head went straight.
So, I don't know where that came from, but hey. So, this is to rectify something, to straighten it up, to reform it, hence to correct it, to make it suitable and useful again for what it was intended.
Galatians 6 .1 comes to mind. Training, last word in that section, is tutorage, education, instruction, nurture, instruction that trains someone to reach full development.
These are deep, insightful things that God wants the scripture to be used for us in our lives.
So, this then is one of the purposes of scripture, to take novices in lifestyle and worldview and make them experts in living the
Christian life. Are you planning on being an expert before you depart for glory?
Don't plan on being an expert, but shoot for it. I think I said this maybe here somewhere or somewhere else. If you're trying to make it to the moon, it's going to be difficult.
But shoot for the moon. At least make it to the light post. The only way one will progress in their sanctification in this direction is to read the book.
What book is he talking about? Well, mine, because it has the correct page numbers. We're on page 1529, in case you were wondering.
No, the scripture. Read the book. You need to read the book, and you need to read it more.
It is to leave nothing to chance, but to provide the sort of instruction that will result in a person that models the standard, which is the life of Jesus Christ.
And this is not optional. Leon Morris touches on this in his commentary on this epistle. Here's what he said.
If you think you can, this is an option. When a man is saved by the work of Christ, for him it does not lie open for him as a matter for his completely free decision whether he will serve
God or not. He has been bought with a price. He has become the slave of Christ.
Christian service is not an optional extra for those who like that kind of thing. It is a compelling obligation which lies upon each one of the redeemed.
It's not an option. Fortunately, there are many times in life when you were instructed to do something that was not an option, but you were not given the tools to do it properly.
God did not leave you in that position. He gave you everything you need to be the very best servant you can be for him, to be more.
And different kinds of service occur for different kinds of believers.
We're not cookie cutters. We all have a different purpose. Well, we all have different utilities in the purpose of elevating the
Lord Jesus Christ. So reflecting on Paul's instruction here, though, he starts this section out with the word for brothers.
This is a we're in it together section, and appropriately so.
The word for walk, that as you receive from us instruction, so as you ought to walk, the word for walk is translated live in the
King James Version. And this bespeaks an understanding of what Paul means here. Our living is a step -by -step walk from the present into the future.
Duh. We all know that. What we take there into the future from here today and how we get there is so very important.
If it is instructed by the word of God, you will take far more into the future. Finally, and although a bit out of order,
Paul's exhortation farther up was in the Lord Jesus. This is how followers of Jesus should live is what
Paul is saying. The exhortation itself comes from the Savior himself, as we will see in the next verse when
Paul claims the authority of his commands, that the authority of his commands devolves, comes directly from the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 2, he says, for you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the
Lord Jesus Christ, of the Lord Jesus. As I was studying this, I looked up a couple of lists of commandments from the
Lord Jesus Christ, and they varied, the ones I found from 45 to 65. And if you put them in small enough font, they won't cover the whole front of your refrigerator.
And I can see how this list was composed, and I can understand the reasoning behind the composition. For some reason, there's no such list of just the commands of Paul.
And it's interesting that he would say this here, that his commands and the commands of the other apostles derive their authority from Jesus Christ himself.
So I did a little bit of study, and I came up with what I think is a reasonable list that can kind of give us a flavor of what the
Thessalonians would have been meditating on when Paul said this. Remember, they would have had access to his other writings.
He expected, he desired and expected that his letters would be read in the other churches. So I'm sure this list is not comprehensive, but it should be representative.
I'm going to go through some of them so we can see what Paul means when he says, you have our commands. You know what is expected of you.
Reckon yourselves dead to sin and yield yourselves to God, Romans 6. Don't boast that you're better than the
Jews, than Israel, Romans 11. Sacrifice your life to God, Romans 12.
Think soberly, act accordingly, Romans 12. Use the gift that you have been given by the
Holy Spirit. Use the gift that you have been given by the Holy Spirit, Romans 12. Mark and avoid false teachers,
Romans 16. I counted possibly a total of 36 in Romans. 36 authoritative commands of the
Apostle Paul, given authority by the Lord Jesus Christ. In the church, deliver perverts to Satan, 1
Corinthians 5. Don't be an idolater, 1 Corinthians 10. Do everything you do for the glory of God, 1
Corinthians 10. Examine yourself, 1 Corinthians 11, 28 and compare Matthew chapter 5 and you'll see
Jesus exhorting the same thing. Let women keep silent in the church, 1 Corinthians 14. Covet prophecy, 1
Corinthians 14. Be steadfast, immovable, abounding in the work of the Lord. Do more, 1
Corinthians 15. My count in 1 Corinthians was between 58 and 64, depending on how some of the verses were looked at.
Let me explain that. Some were listed as commandments that I thought could also be listed as facts or observations.
For example, 1 Corinthians 3 .18, let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise.
That's a command, but to me it's an observation. So, refuse to be unequally yoked with believers, 2
Corinthians. Cleanse yourself from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 2 Corinthians.
Give with a cheerful heart, 2 Corinthians. Be perfect. As an aside, there are two words today that kind of grind me, that people use all the time, literally and perfect.
I mean, when you order a coffee from a coffee shop and they tell you, they say, perfect.
What's perfect? The coffee they're going to make? The order I just placed? Even though I had to repeat it four times?
You know, don't misuse words. That's not in the script. Well, it probably is. I'd have to look that up.
Be perfect, 2 Corinthians 13. And I counted 13 in 2 Corinthians. Stand fast in the freedom that Christ has given you,
Galatians 5. Restore a brother caught in a fault, Galatians 6.
Do good to everyone, especially believers, Galatians 6. There seem to be about 14 in Galatians, commands of the
Apostle Paul. Stop lying and tell the truth, Ephesians 4. Learn to be properly angry,
Ephesians 4. Be kind and forgiving of one another, Ephesians 4. Boy, Ephesians 4 has a lot of stuff.
Do not link up with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them, Ephesians 5. Husbands, love your wives,
Ephesians 5. Children, obey your parents, Ephesians 6. Put on the whole armor of God, Ephesians 6.
There are between, depending on how you look at them, as commands or suggestions or observations of fact, between 25 and 29 in Ephesians.
Refuse to do anything through strife or vainglory, Philippians 2. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
Philippians 2. Don't murmur. Did he really tell us not to murmur? I think he did.
Don't murmur in dispute, Philippians 2. Beware of those who require obedience to commands for salvation,
Philippians 3. Meditate on true, honest, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, praiseworthy, well -reported things,
Philippians 4. Looks like there's about 21 in Philippians. These can be their own study, their own incredible, profitable study.
Mortify sin in your life. I have a memory of this one. When I was taking a Greek class, I think back in the 1970s, the teacher didn't like the
New American Standard Translation where it says, consider it, consider dead or consider, and let me look it up here.
I have the very Word of God in my hands, so Colossians. Now you're going to find out if I know where stuff is.
Colossians 3, 5. Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead.
He said, if you as a boxer get in, now this will date me because this is who was famous at the time.
If you as a boxer get into the ring with Muhammad Ali and just consider him dead, it will not go well with you.
The word actually means to make dead, to cause to be dead. So, mortify sin in your life,
Colossians 3. Be sure that the words of the Lord Jesus Christ dwell in you, Colossians 3. Continue in prayer,
Colossians 4. There are between 22 and 24 in Colossians. And then start in this chapter in Thessalonians, abstain from fornication,
Chapter 4. Comfort one another with the words of Scripture, Chapter 4. Do not render evil for evil,
Chapter 5. Prove all things and hold fast to those things which are good, Chapter 5. There are 15, it looks like, in 1
Thessalonians. Don't be deceived by false prophets. Are there any false prophets in the world today?
I think they're everywhere. I mean, or maybe it's just that we have such instant access to news now, which means we are meddling in things that we have no business meddling in most of the time.
Meddle not with strife not belonging to you. Okay, if you want to eat, work for it, 2
Thessalonians. Don't grow tired of doing what is right, 2 Thessalonians. Urge teachers to teach proper doctrine which results in a pure heart, a good conscience, and an unfeigned faith, 1
Timothy. I found six in 2 Thessalonians. I forgot to tell you that.
Pray for those in authority, 1 Timothy. Meditate upon wholesome words of Scripture, 1 Timothy. Honor and take care of widows, 1
Timothy. Rebuke a sinning elder before all, 1 Timothy. Be content with food and clothing, 1
Timothy. If you are rich, be good to those who are less fortunate, 1
Timothy. Don't be afraid to be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel. That's 2
Timothy. I jumped the shark here. 1 Timothy has between 25 and 27. Commit Scripture and holy living to faithful men so they can teach others, 2
Timothy. Be gentle, apt to teach, patient, meek, and a guardian of the truth, 2 Timothy. Be ready to preach the word in an instant, 2
Timothy. The second epistle to Timothy contains between 16 and 20, another profitable study.
Exhort the aged and the young to have good behavior, sobriety, charity, sincerity, and other wonderful qualities,
Titus 2. Avoid foolish questions, Titus 3. Titus has 12 to 15.
Have faith, Hebrews 11. Just in case Paul didn't write Hebrews, I'll just comment on the fact that there are approximately 34 to 37 in the book of Hebrews.
So the total count, in my estimation, is somewhere between 263 and 287.
And if you include Hebrews, it's between 297 to 324. That's if you look at some of what are listed as commands by other folks as observations and facts.
In all, there's plenty of instruction that Paul gave to his readers to properly walk in a manner pleasing to the
Father of lights. Remember, the commands of the apostles, now that is the original, genuine command of the apostles that were appointed by the
Lord Jesus Christ himself in 30 to 33 AD. I don't know what time of the day, but those apostles, they have the same authority as the commands of Christ.
Every apostle, again, the original 11 that actually walked with Jesus and later Paul, who was specifically made an apostle by Christ himself.
Interestingly, this word for commandments is used only five times in the New Testament and only three times concerning commandments in the faith.
For you know what commandments we gave you, he said. Acts 5 .28, we gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name and yet you have filled
Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. This was a time when it was appropriate for the people in question to ignore the commands.
This was the high priest commanding the apostles not to preach in Jesus' name. That's that word. Acts 16 .24,
and he having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
The chief magistrates of the city commanded the jailer to do this. 1 Timothy 1 .5, but the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith.
Same word here, instruction, regarding a life of faith and obedience. This is a similar use.
This is one of the other similar uses of this word in the New Testament. And lastly, 1 Timothy 1 .18,
this command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight.
This is the second use of this word that is similar to Paul's use of it here. So I think that gives us a flavor of the breadth of understanding that Paul had and the kinds of things that he expected those who read his teachings to observe in those days and in these days.
He intended for the Thessalonians, for the Galatians, for the Romans, for the
Philippians, for you name the church, you name the people, and us today to understand and do what they needed to do then and to do today.
These things Paul gave to his readers in first century Palestine, they carry the same weight in 2023.
You almost always want to say, well, they carry even more weight today because it's worse today than it's ever. No, it's as bad today as we know it is.
It's always been bad since just after the first bite in the apple. It's always been bad.
These commands, by the way, are a translation of the word parangelia, which reflect the same concept as a military directive.
This is the kind of statement a commanding officer would give to his subordinates. The Thessalonians then and we now would do well not to take these commands lightly.
One could say that the right response to the commands of Christ, to the commands of Paul, and the commands of Peter, James, John, and the other apostles would constitute understanding and executing the will of God in your life.
Are you looking for the will of God? It is laid out for us in black and white, and if you have a red letter
Bible, in black, red, and white. Now, with that all said about being more devoted, more self -serving, more selfless, more dependent on Christ, there's something coming next in this little epistle that is a clear expectation
Paul has for the Thessalonians, and they're living in a very perverted and disgusting world. I don't want to steal my thunder from them whenever that is.
When we get there, we'll talk about it. Something like today it is, though. For that reason,
I want to focus on just a few of the commandments that Paul gave over the years that he preached and taught and wrote to different groups of believers that will bear on what we are going to be looking at in the next section of 1
Thessalonians and that we can bring to bear on our own lives. He says, examine yourselves.
That's not said here, but that's one of Paul's commands in 1 Corinthians 11 .28. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
This is a group that is living out the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they would still be reading this, and they should take it to heart.
Thessalonians, you're doing well. Examine yourselves. Paul wants them to continually do a self -check. He wants us to do that as well.
This is the equivalent of the check engine light on your car, to some degree. And it's a bad idea when the check engine light comes on to put white out over it.
Who would have thunk? It's a bad idea when God's Holy Spirit -controlled conscience that He rendered for you at the new birth is ignored, or worse yet, clear words of Scripture are ignored.
With the car, a computer compares the car's behavior to a certain set of established parameters that indicate a well -functioning vehicle.
We have that same kind of check. We can compare our lives to what it says in the pages of Scripture, and we can listen to the loving, well -intended rebukes of others in our lives, other believers with whom we have fellowship.
We are to come to one another's aid in these things by letting one another know if we see fault.
If we happen to see fault in one of the brethren, in Galatians 6, verse 1, Paul cautions us to come with a spirit of gentleness, thinking very carefully about ourselves and making sure we're not imposing on someone some failure that can't be demonstrated from Scripture.
It's on our list, but I can't find it in the Word of God. The next command that I want us -there's going to be four,
I believe, I have here that I want us to think about that Paul would have had -the Thessalonians would have had access to.
Cleanse yourself from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 2 Corinthians 7, verse 1. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
This is a day -by -day, as I mentioned earlier, mortification of the wickedness that we used to do and occasionally still struggle with.
The evidence of a growing Christian is more and more disgust with the behavior and more and more control of that behavior day -by -day, providentially by the work of the
Holy Spirit. This cleansing is an ongoing work that we must prayerfully beg
God to accomplish. Make no mistake, the Thessalonians had to deal with this kind of thing in the fallen world they lived in daily.
Thessalonia was one of the centers of one of the perverted religions, and we'll get to that. This is another command, and this is, for me at least, this is something that I really am trying to take to heart, something that I just don't see a lot of,
I don't see any of it in the world, and it needs to be so much more evident in the church. Husbands, love your wives.
Now, the appropriate thing is to follow that up with the section that talks about wives loving their, I'm not going to do that. Husbands, love your wives,
Ephesians 5, 25 through 28. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present
Himself to Himself, the church, in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless.
So husbands ought also to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.
So see, I'm preaching, so I get to pick my hobby horses, and this is one that I just, to me,
Kim and I have watched some movies, and it's like it's a given that the husband's going to be unfaithful. Why are you watching it?
I don't know. Probably should be doing something else. Men, this is a daily precious privilege we have, not only to say we love our wives, but to show them every day.
This is not only a protection for them, but it is also a consistent and constant reminder of just how important and wonderful they are in our daily lives.
Our eyes, our words, our heart, and our mind needs to be consumed with loving our wives.
And then the last one that we'll talk about today, meditate upon the wholesome words of Scripture, 1
Timothy 4 .15. He says in this translation, he says, take pains with these things, be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all.
Now, the Thessalonians' progress was evident. It was evident to Paul and the other missionaries that went there.
This is something he would still encourage them to do more of. Finally, one of the commands
Paul gave to his young charge is a most important and timely one for people in any age, his young charge in this case being
Timothy. The Greek word translated take pains is translated as meditate upon in the
King James. The idea is to revolve them in your mind, turn them over, ponder them.
It is God's Word and God's Word only, not real or fake revivals, not real or fake experiences, not real or fake you fill in the blank.
It is God's Word and God's Word only that offers the direction of the progress that God intends for us, for each believer by the power of the indwelling
Holy Spirit to conquer the sin that the Thessalonians then and we today struggle with.
And we'll see one of those sins in the next section when we get to 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 3.
Scripture is replete with similar commands and encouragements.
To repeat myself, do more. And in closing, the Old Testament says it this way.
Psalm 92, verses 12 through 15. What does it take for a, that's not
Psalm 92, that's me. What does it take for a tree to flourish? You just plug it in the ground and leave it alone.
Well, maybe some tree somewhere, but for the most part, me, if I plant a tree,
I better baby that sucker for the next 20 years or it's going to die an awful death because I have no green thumb.
God never does that. When He plants, He waters, He preserves. Psalm 92, 12 through 15.
The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the
Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age. That's an encouragement. They will be full of sap and very green to declare that the
Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him. That's what we will do as a result of that flourishing.
We will declare that the Lord is upright. He is my rock. He is full of righteousness.
And then Proverbs 4, 18, what the Old Testament says about doing more. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.
Keep at it. I know your life, many of you in here, if not most, your life is hard.
Jesus promised though, and you will see where I was going with that, that fruit bearers would bear even more fruit.
He said in John 15, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He takes away.
And every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. And doesn't this line up with what
Jim has been speaking about in these last few weeks? The discipline that God brings into our lives to make us more productive, more useful, more of a blessing to others and to Him.
And finally, yeah, really, finally, I'm on the last paragraph. See, I only have one page.
Peter echoes Paul's encouragement in 2 Peter chapter 3. No, Dave, I didn't steal any of your thunder.
He says, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.
Amen. So 2 ,000 years ago, Paul was requesting and encouraging a young church that was remarkable in its dedication to the
Lord Jesus Christ to do more, to love more, to go beyond and work out their salvation in new and remarkable ways, serving the
Lord in greater and greater ways, more. That encouragement still stands.
The blessing of the Holy Spirit empowering that still accompanies believers today.
So what is stopping us from doing more? Nothing. Let's pray.
Father, we thank You that by Your providence, You have given us everything we need to do more.
And You have told us what that more is. Might we look into Your Word daily, weekly, monthly, hour by hour, as is necessary, on prayer, on prayerful knees, seeking to know how to please
You more, because it is Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who we want to love more. We thank
You for Him, and we ask this for His sake. In Jesus' name. Amen. Please stand and let's end our service this morning and sing,
Take My Life and Let It Be. Take my life and let it be, consecrated
Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise, let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move, at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be, swift and beautiful for Thee, swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice and let me sing, always, only for Thy need.
Take my lips and let them be, filled with messages from Thee, filled with messages from Thee.
Take my will and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thy own, it shall be
Thy royal throne, it shall be
Thy royal throne. May the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Thanks for coming.