4 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. 2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. 6 Never harm or cheat a Christian brother in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. 7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. 8 Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9 But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another. 10 Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.
11 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. 12 Then people who are not Christians will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.
13 And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So encourage each other with these words.
In chapter 4, I see something that I myself have struggled with in the past. It’s so easy to get used to “going through the motions” in church (as The Message calls it, “ a dogged religious plod”). It’s easy for worship (or the appearance of worship) to become automatic. Service and ministry become automatic. Everything happens because that’s the way it’s always happened. We get used to the actions of church in the same way that we get used to putting on a seat belt in a car. We don’t even think about it, we just do it!!! WHERE IS GOD IN THAT? Thank goodness God doesn’t just leave life to US to figure out.
Verse 4 of chapter 4 reminds us to keep out of a disorderly, unkept life. To keep out of nitpicking into each others lives. Verse 9 says it best, “just love one another”! The best part is, it doesn’t end with “rules” for living a better life. This chapter ends with a reminder of our future. It holds a promise that we will see our Christian brothers and sisters who have passed on, again! I love the wording in the message, “And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master”. The Bible is awesome! It is my guidebook for living AND it reminds me that my future is to be with Jesus!
Posted by: Thomas Price | October 11, 2007 at 04:08 AM
http://picasaweb.google.com/dippository/1stThessalonians/photo?authkey=b-hmK3-MAj0#5120520350401803730
Posted by: Jim D. | October 12, 2007 at 12:36 PM