We continue our study of 1 Thessalonians. We learned that a living church which is rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ will have its faith working and labouring in love. It will be expressed both inwardly and outwardly. Its role is to glorify the Father by being obedient to the Word of God.
The outward expression is by preaching the gospel to the world. The disciples of Jesus are sent to the world. We remember about the church in Thessalonica that “from you sounded out the word of the Lord […] in every place” (1:7). True, living church is recognised by its fruit, by its preaching.
How is the work of faith and labour of love expressed inwardly? We spoke about the great mission of nursing God’s children. The role can be accomplished when we find and recognise the greatest love that humankind has ever witnessed: the love of God sending His only begotten Son to die for the sins of the world. Jesus Christ willingly gave up His life for sinners like me and you and is our only way to salvation and to knowledge of God.
In the first chapter we read how the church in Thessalonica “were ensamples to all that believe”. In today’s passage we find more specifics of how every believer is expected to serve the church and walk worthy of God.
It speaks about practical implications of how we share a common responsibility for each other. By following Jesus Christ we become examples for others and are accountable for how we lead them. Building the church of God and finding our role in it is a task that belongs to every one of us.
You may think that spiritual leadership would only be a lesson applicable for pastors and elders. But this is not the case. Some form of leadership is expected from every follower of Jesus. All of us are given the responsibility of being the light in this world pointing to the Saviour. Just as the Thessalonians, we are to be ensamples among other believers.
“Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:” v. 10
In this verse we find the details of how we are meant to walk in the presence of God. Notice it is addressed specifically to them who are in the church. It mentions walking among them that believe. We behaved holily and justly and unblameably. We do not seek the approval of this world. The world is against God and the gospel. It hates God and everything that is holy. It will also hate us and be against the gospel message (see verse 16). The world will persecute the true church of Christ. Therefore, we need to remember that our job is not to make the church appealing to the world. We preach the truth. There is no place for any conformity within the church. Hold tight to the Word of God!
See how it mentions “Ye are witnesses, and God also”. This speaks of the Christian character and its integrity. There is no hypocrisy in a Christian. We behave the same way before our Christian brothers and sisters as we behave in the world. Our actions and beliefs are consistent. What is seen outwardly by other people is the same as what is inside in our hearts that is known to the Father. Our life needs to be a reflection of whom we serve and whom we follow. We are to behave holily, justly and unblameably. Let us consider these attributes and see what they mean.
1) We Behaved Holily. Ye shall be holy
We find this call to holiness already in the book of Leviticus: “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.” Lev. 19:2.
These words are addressed to all the children of Israel and require an action from every believer. We were created in God’s image and as He is holy, we are expected to be holy too. But what exactly is holiness? There is a common misconception that being holy means being a good person. It is not. To be holy, means to be sanctified, consecrated, dedicated to the Lord. To be holy means to be separated from the world of worldliness.
What does it mean in practical terms? A holy person grows every day in the likeness of Christ. This requires studying the Word of God and subjecting to it as being the final authority in all matters. It means eradicating sin and disobedience from our life. Holy people of God are called to fight the temptations and lusts of the flesh and everything that is in rebellion to God.
Holiness means living for God. Every day and every hour a holy person will want to please the Father in heaven. “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.” 2 Cor. 5:9
He or she will seek to be changed by Him and renewed in the spirit of mind. Holy people want to fully submit their will to the will of our Creator. This submission of will is greatly expressed by Paul in the letter to Ephesians:
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” Eph. 4:1
The Word of God is the mark setting up the standard toward which we need to strive. This is how we become the ensamples to others and behave holily. This is the first attribute that every follower of Jesus and church member needs to seek.
2) We Behaved Justly. Seek ye first […] his righteousness
To behave justly is to judge all things according to what is morally right or fair. Yes, we are supposed to judge all things. We have the standard of the Word of God so that we can judge everything whether it is good or evil. “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things”. 1 Cor. 2:15. The sword of God is given to us that we can justly judge all things.
Our Lord, Jesus Christ spoke in the sermon on the mount: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;” (Mt. 6:33)
Seek his righteousness and learn the obedience to God. If we are to build the church of God, we need to behave justly. Use the lamp of the Word of God to examine all your paths and judge all things rightly.
It will be very difficult for us to seek his righteousness if we live in sin. This is because sin will condemn us. But this is the whole point! How do you cleanse sins if you are not aware of them? We need to call every act of disobedience to God and every rebellion for what it is: SIN. God tries our hearts. Can you hide anything from Him, by not being honest?
Behave justly by eradicating that which is evil from your life and the life of the church. This leads us to the third attribute: unblameably.
3) We Behaved Unblameably.
We can only behave unblameably if we walk by faith. All our actions need to be rooted in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are called unblameable if our behaviour brings in the church an increase of the knowledge and understanding of God, or is an expression of Jesus’ charity.
It is the obligation of every believer to follow the example set by Apostle Paul in this passage. Behave holily, justly and unblameably. It is important though to remember that it is not by these works that we are saved. These attributes are simply the visible expression of the faith we have in Jesus Christ. It is only by His blood we are made unblameably and sanctified for our God.
There can be no excuse to have a flippant approach to the Word of God. True follower of Christ understands that obedience is better then sacrifice. We need to seek that mark of aiming to live holy and glorify God. If we are his people, the Holy Spirit in us will make us unblameably.
Fatherly Love: Exhort, Comfort, Charge
Paul is not using these marks to avoid discipline in the church. On the contrary: he is an ensample to the church, so that he can serve it with spiritual leadership by exhorting, comforting and charging. We see this in verse 11:
“As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children”
Being an ensample to other believers requires us to seek these marks not only in ourselves, but to use the authority and power of the Word of God to shape every one of our brethren. Every soul is important in the eyes of God and we are together in this journey. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Gal. 6:2
Exhorting, comforting & charging each other is the important role of the church and the way of how we love our brethren. The perception of love of God is very different to how the world would like to define love. The love of God is not the love of universal acceptance of sin, but rather the love of bringing everything to the light so that it may be healed.
1) We exhorted every one of you
To exhort is a very strong verb. It means to strongly encourage or urge someone to do something. We exhorted every one of you. We need to encourage others to walk in obedience to God. Preaching of the Word of God and using its authority to judge all things and exhort is the responsibility of every follower of Jesus. This is how we are supposed to build ourselves into the living church! “We exhorted, comforted and charged every one of you.”
A good father knows what is best for his child. There are times when he needs to discipline it and point out its weakness. It needs to exhort it so that the child may know its behaviour was wrong and be changed. But there needs to be a balance.
2) We comforted every one of you
This good father will also know when the child needs to be comforted. We need to see the needs of others in the church and be like fathers to them. We give comfort by reminding the love God has for us. All our sins are forgiven! We are not supposed to walk in shame and fear.
We learn this from our Father in heaven, for he is the God of all comfort as we read in 2 Cor. 1:3: “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;” The mercies and comforts of God need to be the marks expressed by our behaviour in the church.
3) We charged every one of you
Finally, this verse says: “we charged every one of you”. To charge means to formally accuse an offence under the law. If necessary we have to lovingly rebuke and reproof them who we see err.
Why is Paul charging the church? We know that nothing can condemn the elect of God: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.” Rom. 8:33
Therefore, we see it is a different kind of charges that Paul is speaking about in verse 12. These charges are not to condemn, for condemnation belongs to God. They are meant to induce repentance and healing through the blood of Jesus.
We are not to avoid the law of God simply because we are under grace. On the contrary, grace will push us into law as we will understand it as a gift from God. Just look at Psalm 119, the longest of all psalms in which David praises the Word of God and God’s law. We love the law! It is the integral part of God’s character, His righteousness and holiness. We look at Him in awe.
“we charged every one of you”. As church we should seek unity for we are one body. But we all want this whole body to walk in obedience to the head, which is in Christ Jesus. It is not only our right to use the law to charge ourselves and other members: it is our duty as it is the way to progress in our Christian life.
Walk worthy of God
Church discipline is very important. We have seen it needs to start from ourselves and we are to be the ensamples. Needless to say, all this needs to be done without any pride for we have nothing to boast. Our justly, holily and unblamable life would not be possible if not for the cross of Jesus. It is to Him we bring all the glory.
The very purpose of these methods: exhortations, comforting and charging is to express the love of the Father to the church and fulfil its mission of nursing God’s children. It is shown in verse 12:
“That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”
It speaks about them whom God hath called. They hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him. While the road may be painful and full of obstacles, the destination is very clear. It is God’s Kingdom. Children of God, you are called unto His glory! You will behold the glory of Jesus Christ, you are called for it! What a wonderful promise this is. If you call God your Father, you need to behave like His child.
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”
Brethren, everything you receive: every message, every news, every word, every speech, every sermon: RECEIVE IT IN TRUTH. See if it comes from God. Check it through the lenses of your Bible. Do not trust anything that is contradictory to the Word of God.
“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing”. The prayer in this verse is for the church. It is for this cause, that the church and God’s elect are walking and being edified by the Word of God. We ought to be grateful for everything, but especially for our brethren in whom we see this work of God being done.
The only reason why the church exists is Jesus Christ. It begins with Him. It starts with the work of God in you, when you receive the Word of God. When you hear the gospel and receive it not as the word of men, but when you know that such a wonderful salvation can only come from God. Do you believe Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and eternal life? This is your beginning. You received and you believe now. The Word of God effectually worketh in you and will lead you to obedience to the gospel. It will make you walk worthy of God and glorify our Saviour, Lord Jesus Christ.
