Sermon Tone Analysis

Exhortation

August 30, 009

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

 

It’s good to be back!

I don’t know how many of you will agree with me when I say that holidays are not restful.

What is restful is the comfort of abiding in the calling of Christ on my life, and that calling is serving as your shepherd.

So, the next time I’m tempted to start a major renno project, someone please kick me hard!

Some time ago, I began to preach from the book of 1 Thessalonians.

I left off in chapter4 which is where we will pick up today.

But before we read this morning’s Scripture passage, let’s listen to some words of wisdom from Henry Blackaby:

When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, /“It is finished!”

Then bowing His head, He gave up His spirit./

John 19:30

Blackaby goes on to say, God always finishes what He begins (Phil.

1:6).

God never speaks a word without ensuring that it comes to pass (Isa.

55:11).

Christ is both the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev.

1:8, 17).

Christ is as much at the /end /of His work as He is at its /beginning./

Jesus was given an enormous mandate.

He was to live a sinless life, remaining absolutely obedient to His Father.

Even the manner of His death was to fulfill numerous prophecies that had been foretold in Scripture (Matt.

26:24, 31, 54, 56; 27:9, 35, 46; John 19:28, 36–37).

Yet, despite the extremely complex assignment Jesus received from His Father, He could shout triumphantly from the cross, /“It is finished!”/

Christ now resides within each believer.

His assignment today is to complete God's will in each Christian.

He is just as determined to do this in us as He was to complete God's will for Himself.

You will have to resist Christ in order to remain out of the will of God.

What is it God wants to do in you?

Have you allowed Him to complete what He has begun?

He will not /force /you to receive all that He has for your life.

If God's work has not been brought to fruition in you, it is not that Christ has not been diligently working toward that end.

Rather, you may need to release areas of your life to Him and be as determined to see God's work in you completed as Christ is.

Review the things God has said to you over this last year.

Are there promises God has made to you that you have refused to allow Him to complete?

If so, commit to yield your will to God today.

Oswald Chambers, in his devotional, “My Utmost for His Highest”, had an interesting thing to say this past week about God’s continuing work in us.

List to this: (from August 27) “The most difficult person to deal with is the one who has prideful self-satisfaction of a past experience, but is not working that experience out in his everyday life.”

He goes on to exhort, “If you say you are sanctified, show it” – in other words, “Live it!”

My message today is to exhort you to live the sanctified life.

So, I’ve entitled this message, “Exhortation”.

God’s Word is constantly exhorting us to keep on.

“Grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior” says 2 Peter 3:18.

At no point are we to grow comfortable.

The Scriptures talk about comfort, being comforted by the comforter, but never about being comfortable.

Someone once described the Christian walk as paddling upstream in a canoe.

Stop paddling and what happens?

In Christenese we call that back-sliding.

God exhorts us to “work out our salvation”.

(Phil 2:12) Not “work for our salvation.”

That’s a free gift.

But “work throughout”.

The idea is to progress to the finish or completion of our spiritual maturity.

So, don’t stop padding!

Now let’s read God’s exhortation to us today.

Turn to today’s Scripture, 1 Thessalonians 4:1 -12:/ Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.

For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; \\ that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, \\ for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.

But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may live properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

/

Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that the only people who need to be called to account are those who have one foot in sin already.

We think that if a person is doing well the only thing they need is either to be praised or perhaps they need nothing at all from us.

We tend to think of exhortations and promptings and urgings and warnings as things you use only for the wayward.

That's a mistake because experience and Scripture teach us that every believer needs regular exhortations, and challenges, and wake-up calls, and stirrings, and inspiration, and warnings, and cautions.

The biblical writers do not get into people's lives only when things are falling apart; they get in when things are going well.

And they exhort us and urge us and stir us up to keep on doing well and to do better and better.

You see this twice in our text: in verse 1 and verse 10.

Verse 1:

/Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you may excel still more.

/

Notice the phrase/, "just as you actually do walk,"/ followed by, /"that you may excel still more."/

Paul's "exhorting" is not prompted by hearing that the church is failing.

It is prompted by the belief that successful churches and successful people need to be exhorted to press on and be vigilant in faithfulness and growth.

The same thing turns up at the end of verses 9–10:

/Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia.

But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more.

/

Even when someone seems to be in such close fellowship with God that it can be said they are "taught by God" (not just man), and even when someone is practicing love not in a narrow limited way but in large and expansive ways, do not think that there is no use in exhortation and prodding and inspiration and motivation for those people.

These Thessalonians were being "taught by God" to love each other (v.

9).

And their love is extending well beyond their own community to believers /throughout the district of Macedonia (v.

10).

And yet Paul said, "We urge you [we exhort you] to abound still more and more."

/

Exhortation, encouragement, and accountability will benefit all of us.

Hebrews 3:12–13 makes this very explicit:

/Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart . . .

But encourage one another day after day . . .

lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

/Keep on paddling!

Never put your paddle down or you will find yourself drifting downstream.

No one has run the race so long or so well that he can say, "I don't need exhortation or accountability or warnings or encouragement."

1 Thessalonians 4:1 is a model of exhortation and accountability that we could well follow in our covenant life as a church.

What I mean by model of exhortation and accountability is it shows us the way we stir each other up to excel in faith and hope and love.

Notice four things in this model:

*1.

A Walk to Please God*

There is a way to walk—or to live—to please God.

Notice in the middle of the verse the words: /"how you ought to walk and to please God."/

There is a way to walk that pleases God.

You’ll hear more about that later is the message.

*2.

A Reminder of What's Been Received*

The Thessalonians had /"received" that way of life and had made a good start in walking in it.

" .

./ .

/as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you actually do walk."/

Verse 2 reminds them what they had received: /"For you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus."