Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] A seminary student sat down with his pastor. His pastor was old and seasoned, or older and seasoned, had been in ministry for some time and had seen a lot and had actually spent a lot of time with this particular student.
[00:00:17] And this student wanted help in determining what God's will for his life was, what God would have him do with his life, and what ministry looked like.
[00:00:29] He loved missions, had been on short term mission trips, really cared about the nations, and was considering, should I go on the mission field?
[00:00:41] But he also loved to preach and teach the Bible, and had done so in this particular local church a lot and had been mentored by this pastor in this way.
[00:00:53] And so he asked his pastor, should I go to the mission field or should I be a pastor?
[00:00:58] What should I do?
[00:01:00] And this shepherd, who had spent much time with him and knew him well, I want to be clear about that, had walked through struggles with him, leaned across his desk and said, I know what God's will for your life is.
[00:01:16] You need to repent of your private addiction that you have yet to repent of, and you need to get a job, like a real job.
[00:01:29] Now. That seminary student left that church, left the office that day with no intent to ever speak to his pastor again.
[00:01:42] He eventually graduated seminary, but for many years remained directionless, and then finally had to get a job to pay his bills.
[00:01:55] And over the course of time kind of matured, then repented of his hidden addiction, eventually got married, and today is in ministry and is actually doing well.
[00:02:12] And if you ask him now about the advice from his pastor, he says, it was exactly what I needed to hear.
[00:02:20] But I rejected was God's will for my life. And my pastor, who knew my soul, knew me well, was speaking God's will into my life.
[00:02:34] And the reality was God's will was what was extremely obvious, but what he was desperately trying to overlook.
[00:02:49] It was his God's will. It was God's will that he would repent and get a job.
[00:02:56] And yet he was thinking about how he was going to change the world. And he would say, if I had just listened, it would have saved me much time and trouble. And I would have had so much more clarity but about my life. But I rejected the counsel. And it's a wonderful story that I heard told, but I wonder about you today. You're here today and you're thinking maybe you're trying to figure out who you are in the world.
[00:03:24] What is God's will for your life? How is God going to use you? What is the rest of your life going to look like maybe you're struggling with your identity.
[00:03:35] Maybe you're just discontent with the life that you have.
[00:03:39] And maybe it's not the same struggles this seminary student had now pastor, had. Maybe it's totally different.
[00:03:49] But maybe the reason you lack clarity is because you're overlooking the obvious.
[00:03:56] Maybe you're thinking about things in the abstract that are just out there and, and God's word is coming to you over and over and saying, this is God's will in this moment.
[00:04:08] Listen to the word of God. Turn from your sin, turn to Christ. And you don't want God's will to be as clear as it is.
[00:04:18] And as we see in our text today, Paul says God's will for our life is extremely clear.
[00:04:24] It's very specific.
[00:04:27] And first of all, he says, God's will for our life is holiness. Notice verse one of chapter four. He says, finally, then, brothers, he. He's talking about how they are to love one another, how they are to continually loving one another. And he says, I'm going to give you some instructions about what this love looks like. And these are instructions he says here that you've heard over and over from us.
[00:04:55] You've heard these instructions from us in the Lord Jesus. Notice finally, brothers, we ask and we urge you in the Lord Jesus. Now this is an authoritative call. What he is about to say are not suggestions.
[00:05:13] He says, I am going to give you these instructions again and urge you, not just asking you, calling you with the authority of Christ, to respond to his will through these instructions. Notice that as you have received from us how you ought to walk, you've already heard these things. We've already told you what life, how you ought to walk looks like here. The imagery of walk is often used by Paul, and it just refers to what your life is to look like on a daily basis. I'm going to give you instructions of what life is to look like, how you are to walk before others. But notice, he says, and to please God. And I think that's an important phrase here because we talk a lot about the fact that we can't please God with our own works. Well, you can't be saved by your own works. You can't get to heaven by your own works. But the believer should desire to please God with his life.
[00:06:20] There are things that you want to do to please God. And he says, we have instructed you in, in these ways before, and he even encourages them here. He says, just as you are doing that, you do so more and more. He even has commended them on their love for one another and will. So in our text today he says it is obvious you are listening to us, you are being led by the Spirit, you are loving one another. And yet there are some more things that you need to excel in to please God to live the life that God would desire you to live.
[00:06:57] Notice verse 2. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. Now Paul just wants to emphasize that over and over.
[00:07:06] I'm not making this up. This isn't my opinion. These aren't traditions that we're just handing down man made traditions. These instructions come with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ. In verse 3 it is this.
[00:07:23] We know what God's will for your life is. Jesus has told us and we have told you over and over. Notice verse 3. For this is the will of God, your sanctification.
[00:07:36] The desire of God.
[00:07:38] What would please God, what God wants in your life, God's plan for your life.
[00:07:47] What God has for you in this life. What is it?
[00:07:52] It's very clear here.
[00:07:54] Notice the will of God, your sanctification.
[00:07:59] Now this word sanctification, it comes from the word holy or holiness which means to be set apart to God, to be holy. In the Old Testament we think about to be holy means you are set apart to God to his presence or to only be used by God objects of worship. The priests were set apart to God to only be used by God under his authority. And that is God's will for your life that you would be set apart to God only that you would be set apart and live under his authority daily.
[00:08:37] Now we know as Christians or we believe as Christians that we, we have been set apart to God in Christ.
[00:08:43] It is Jesus's righteousness that makes us holy. It is his holiness that makes us holy before God. That is how we are accepted. But what Paul says here is you have this position in Christ and now you are to practice it. You are to live it out. You are to live like Christ in this world.
[00:09:07] Jesus is holy. Be holy as Christ is holy, the one who has made you holy before God. Live this out. This is the process that you have entered into when you believe the gospel and so straightforward here today.
[00:09:23] God's will for your life is to be holy.
[00:09:28] That's it.
[00:09:30] What does that look like?
[00:09:32] And I wonder when I say that, as you've asked that question in your own life, have you been just distracted in other ways? When you think about God's will for your life, you think about future plans.
[00:09:45] God's never going to tell you the exact future that you are to have, except that he redeemed you in Christ and He'll raise you from the dead and you'll live with him forever.
[00:09:55] You're not going to know all the details along the way.
[00:09:58] You're going to make decisions according to the desires that he gives you.
[00:10:03] And so often we think about God's will for my life in these big I'm going to change the world ways.
[00:10:12] And God says, before you think about changing the world, you need to think about being changed.
[00:10:19] This is the way God lives with us. This is the way God shapes us, is he makes us holy. And this is the primary will for God, for your life before God. God's will is not revealing some mysterious purpose for your life.
[00:10:38] God's will is aligning your life with his clearly revealed purposes.
[00:10:44] I'll say that again. God's will is not God revealing some mysterious purpose for your life. God's will is aligning your life with his clearly revealed purpose.
[00:10:56] And so you wake up every day and you say, how am I supposed to live today? How am I supposed to walk today? How am I supposed to please God? Where you are to be holy? How do you do that? You open up the word of God and by the Spirit, God reveals Jesus and his character from Genesis to revelation. And you begin to align your will with his. You begin to see what holiness is and you live before him daily. And that is where your focus is.
[00:11:25] Some of us want to ignore that and think about the abstract, but we're never going to get to those other things until we are focused on being holy. Those big decisions in life. What's God's will? Do I go here? Do I do this? Do I move here? Do I marry this person? What do I do? They're not going to make sense. If on a daily basis you're not seeking to honor God with the life in front of you, you're not going to honor him with those decisions. And so God's will in this moment is that you would be holy.
[00:11:58] What does that look like? Well, it's that you would be pure.
[00:12:02] Notice that you would abstain from sexual immorality.
[00:12:06] The word abstain means to break, to distance yourself from sexual immorality. This term, sexual immorality, it refers to any sexual activity in the heart, mind or body that is outside the bounds of a one flesh covenant relationship of marriage.
[00:12:28] Any sexual activity of heart, mind and body outside the bounds of a one flesh covenant relationship in marriage. You are to abstain. You are to distance. You are to flee from premarital extramarital lust that Jesus calls adultery. You are to abstain. You are to get away from it.
[00:12:52] Now it seems as though we. We look in, throughout history and in every culture, this is the issue that God addresses with his church over and over, that we would not look like the world around us.
[00:13:14] The world from Genesis 3 on has always been sexually perverse.
[00:13:21] And Christians who are called out of the world are to look different, particularly with this issue.
[00:13:30] And some of you, if you've been here for the last two years, you think, is this all this church talks about?
[00:13:36] I mean, we were in Genesis and it seemed to be in every story there. And then we picked Proverbs and we had to talk about chapter five and six there. And I thought this summer we were just going to have a normal sermon series about how to be witnesses for Jesus. And by the way, there's some end time stuff in First Thessalonians. This is going to be awesome. Oh, chapter four. Dang it.
[00:14:02] Yeah, it's hard for me, too.
[00:14:07] I don't prepare the meal, I just deliver it.
[00:14:12] Okay, well, let's don't get too excited just yet.
[00:14:19] But Thessalonica was sexually perverse. The Gentile world at this time was.
[00:14:28] And immorality wasn't just common.
[00:14:32] It was an act of worship.
[00:14:35] So often to pagan gods, there were temple prostitutes who were there so you could engage in rituals that were acts of worship to pagan gods.
[00:14:47] And it was expected that men would have mistresses and they were to use their slaves for pleasure and their wives for kids. And the marriage covenant was minimized.
[00:15:01] And this is the world these believers live in. And now they believe the gospel and they're preaching and sharing the gospel. And by the way, they just love one another.
[00:15:12] That Paul says you every chapter. You're loving, you're loving. Excel in this. Abound in this. You're doing a great job loving one another.
[00:15:19] But we do have to talk about this issue because it's what makes you different in such a perverse world. And some of you just have to be told it's wrong.
[00:15:28] You don't know it's sin. So I'm going to tell you it's sin again. And I want you to get it. This is what Paul is doing here.
[00:15:36] And we certainly live in a culture where sexual desire is idolized.
[00:15:43] The covenant of marriage is irrelevant.
[00:15:46] Sexual desire is the God of our culture. It's what defines us. It's what determines our status in the world, is what sexual preference we have.
[00:16:00] And no shame. Immorality is an act of worship to this God of sexual desire.
[00:16:09] This God determines what is right and wrong.
[00:16:12] And what is right is that you flesh out your sexual desire however you want to. And that's how you pay allegiance to the God of sexual desire in our culture and our worship leaders in this religion are the most popular people, the influencers, the entertainers, the celebrities. And here's the deal. If you just look at our culture, the most popular, the most celebrated are the most perverse people.
[00:16:43] Think about the. I'm not even going to give their names because they're so disgusting.
[00:16:49] The most popular influencers right now, what are they? What are they known for?
[00:16:54] It's disgusting.
[00:16:56] And it's because our God is sexual desire.
[00:17:00] There are evangelistic efforts all over the place for this God. We think about the LGBTQ agenda. By the way, it's June.
[00:17:10] The hookup culture, which is just normalized.
[00:17:15] The porn industry and the Shades of Gray genre, which is a Netflix suggested watch list for stay at home moms.
[00:17:25] Sexual desire is the God of our culture, and it is God's will that we flee that God.
[00:17:35] It is God's will that we look different from everybody else.
[00:17:39] And some of us here today just need to be told that's wrong.
[00:17:44] The sort of traditional values that you grew up with.
[00:17:48] I mean, when you watch I Love Lucy, some of us, they're in two different baths.
[00:17:54] And I'm not even going to get an illustration about today's culture, but it's a lot different.
[00:18:00] And some of us just have to be told it's wrong. Don't do it, because it's so normalized and your brains have been rewired into thinking it's okay.
[00:18:10] And Paul says, no, it is the will of God that you flee such things.
[00:18:15] And this is what it looks like. God's will and sexual purity is love, not lust. Notice, verse 4. God's will for your life is love, not lust notice. He says 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. And so he says, now that you are a believer, you need to control your body.
[00:18:42] The natural desires that are there are to be used for God's glory. And there's a context in which they are to be used. Holiness and honor.
[00:18:53] Not like the Gentiles who just give in to their lust and they do whatever they want. Why do they do whatever they want? They don't know God. And that's going to be the difference in this passage, those who know God and have the Holy Spirit, they act a certain way. And those who do not know God and don't have the Holy Spirit act a certain way. And so if you have the Holy Spirit, you are to be pure. And that means controlling or harnessing your own body. Now this could also be translated, and it's just both of these interpretations have almost equal merit.
[00:19:30] How to acquire a wife is one translation here. But control your own body or acquire a wife. Both of those translations point to the holiness and honor of the marriage covenant. And so what he's saying here is the purpose of sexual. The sexual desire is to be experienced in marriage, holiness and honor. That is the marriage covenant. And pagans devalue that. They devalue the covenant so they can give in to their own desires, whatever they are, whenever they are, however they are.
[00:20:08] He says, but you're not to be that way. You are to control.
[00:20:11] You are to pursue these things by acquiring a wife within marriage or just harnessing, controlling your bodies in holiness and honor by the Holy Spirit. And so God is given this desire to be experienced only in the marriage covenant.
[00:20:28] Why our marriages are to reflect the gospel and our lives are to honor and exalt the love Jesus has for his church.
[00:20:41] And his love for his church was sealed in a covenant with of blood.
[00:20:47] Jesus became one with his bride and he sealed his love for her in a covenant with his own life. And he says, I will never forsake you. And that's love. It involves a covenant commitment. And so the expression of love sex, which pictures you become one in every way in marriage happen if there's no love commitment, it's not love.
[00:21:17] It's not love, it's lust.
[00:21:21] It's lust, not love. And so don't be fooled by that. Don't be fooled by your feelings saying this is love without a covenant commitment from someone who says, I will never leave you or forsake you, that's love.
[00:21:38] Or you saying to someone else, I will never leave you or forsake you. And this is the way we picture it.
[00:21:45] We become one before God and witnesses the government, whatever it means in whatever culture to become one in marriage. And then we picture that we will never leave or forsake one another. And without that covenant commitment, it's lust not love. But next he says, God's will for your life is self giving, not self serving.
[00:22:06] Notice verse 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter. Because the Lord is an avenger of all these Things as we told you before and solemnly warned you. And so why should you not do this? Because God becomes your enemy when you do this, when you become self serving and not self giving. Notice, the word transgress.
[00:22:30] It means to go beyond the law or boundary. So what is the law or boundary when it comes to sexual desire, marriage, that is the law and that is the, that is the boundary, the marriage covenant. And so to sin in this way, you go beyond that boundary. And notice, he says, and wrong his brother in this matter means to sin or defraud or take advantage of someone.
[00:22:56] And it could mean a brother's wife. Some people just translate brother here, another person to defraud another person in this way. And so outside the marriage covenant, sex is simply to use another person for self gratification. It can be physical or it can be pixelated.
[00:23:17] That person is an object to be used.
[00:23:21] You're not giving yourself over to them in love.
[00:23:24] You're gratifying yourself and you're taking advantage of them to do so. But this is the warning here that the Lord is an avenger, meaning he will pay back the injustice.
[00:23:38] Now this is a very serious, grave warning.
[00:23:44] And Paul is giving this warning to believers. He says, this isn't something to play around with.
[00:23:50] You make God your enemy.
[00:23:53] When you take part in such sin, you make God your enemy. And he uses the word Lord here, referring back to the Old Testament, the Lord of hosts, who is a warrior who will destroy his enemies. That's who you make your enemy, the Lord when you take part in this.
[00:24:13] And it's akin to the idea of hurting someone who is created in the image of God. And we think about, we think about the death penalty. Those who kill or take the image of God, they deserve justice in the same way. Think about Genesis 9.
[00:24:32] And here what Paul is trying to communicate is you are taking advantage of someone created in the image of God. And God loves his image and values his image in everyone. And you are not to take advantage of one who is created in his image. And he will take justice into his own hands.
[00:24:50] And normally the way that this works out is for a believer, for those who we would consider a believer, they sin in this way. And there's subtle conviction.
[00:25:04] And a believer responds to that. They don't like that.
[00:25:08] They respond to the Spirit and the word of God in their life.
[00:25:12] And yet there are some who that subtle conviction just keeps coming.
[00:25:18] And there's no response.
[00:25:20] And there's no response. Maybe there's some temporary consequences that should wake you up and with this issue, they're severe. They involve other people, marriages.
[00:25:33] And they don't wake up and they don't repent, and they keep marching along in that way.
[00:25:40] And you know what they're doing? They're proving they're not believers.
[00:25:44] And the Lord will judge them for such sin against others created in his image.
[00:25:51] Why would I say that? Well, notice the next verses. For God has not called us to impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards this disregards not man, but God, who gives his Holy Spirit. God has given us the Holy Spirit for a purpose. And he says here it is to make us pure. And so God's will for your life is purity. It's not the guilt and filth of such sin. You are to turn from it. You are to run from it. That's what the Spirit of God does in your life. That's why there's prompting, that's why there's conviction, is to turn from it and turn to Christ, who is holy. Notice he's not called us to impurity. The word impurity here refers to an infected wound that is oozing and it needs to be sanitized or it's going to kill you.
[00:26:41] The believer realizes that and turns from such impurity. They don't want it in their life.
[00:26:48] He says, this is what God has called us to. And he says, if you disregard this, you disregard not man, but God. The word disregard means to just kind of set aside. That's an unneeded opinion. You see, the believers here could say, you know, Paul's a Jew and he has really high sexual ethics.
[00:27:08] All Jews do, but we're Gentiles. He doesn't understand our world.
[00:27:13] He doesn't understand the world we live in.
[00:27:15] And he says, no, no, no, this is not my opinion. This is God who gave you the Holy Spirit for this purpose. The Holy Spirit is seeking to make you pure. And if you continue to play in the filthy acting as though it will not kill you, you're proving that you don't have the Holy Spirit.
[00:27:36] And you will face the judgment of God.
[00:27:39] The Holy Spirit has united you to Christ to make you clean, to purge your life of all filth. And it takes a while. We're polluted with sin.
[00:27:50] We have patterns and desires that we've given into for so long, and we have to squash those patterns and desires and make new ones. But the Holy Spirit will do that in the life of a believer.
[00:28:02] And here's the way it often happens.
[00:28:05] Folks come to me and they say, man, I'm So miserable. I just don't know why I don't have joy.
[00:28:14] My marriage is in really bad shape.
[00:28:18] Most of my friendships, very difficult.
[00:28:22] I wonder sometimes, am I even saved?
[00:28:25] You begin to ask questions and you realize that this is one of the issues.
[00:28:30] Not always want to be clear, but often this is one of the issues in people's lives. And so don't think when you come to me and you give me those things, I'm going to say, well, I know what's going on with you. That's not what I'm saying.
[00:28:41] But so often it is.
[00:28:45] Then I'll say, can you just tell me, you know about sin in your life?
[00:28:51] What do you. What do you feel? What is. What do you feel guilty about anything? And often this will come up.
[00:28:58] And so let's just be logical here. In light of what the Bible says, you're miserable.
[00:29:05] Well, you're marring the gospel. You're serving yourself.
[00:29:09] You've made God your enemy and you're ignoring the spirit of God.
[00:29:14] I don't expect you're going to be very happy.
[00:29:18] You're probably going to be a miserable person.
[00:29:21] You're at odds with God and what he's trying to do in your life.
[00:29:26] And here's the thing, and this isn't a call to shun anybody today.
[00:29:34] This is a warning to call you to joy today.
[00:29:38] That's what this is, to move away from that at all cost.
[00:29:43] Yeah, you got to feel the weight and guilt. And you really do need to understand what you're doing to yourself.
[00:29:49] It is inhumane to continue to give in to this sin.
[00:29:54] But there's joy in the gospel. And if you're just open and honest about it and you confess and you repent, the gospel is true.
[00:30:03] First, John 1:9 says, he is faithful and. And just to cleanse you of all unrighteousness, he will cleanse you of such sin. And what I've seen as a pastor, and it's a great joy, is people who repent of this sin and turn from it.
[00:30:19] You look into their eyes one day and you wonder, are they there?
[00:30:25] What is going on here?
[00:30:27] And they confess, they open up, they repent, and they become a new person.
[00:30:36] They are free.
[00:30:37] Sometimes it's as though they got saved or they got saved again. I don't believe you can do that. But it's what it. What I experience so often. They become human again and you know what goes on. They are becoming who God has created them to be.
[00:30:54] A person with a body and soul that honors him and so if that, if that's you here today, I want to invite you to joy.
[00:31:03] I want to invite you to experience the freedom of the gospel, to become human again, to experience the joy of walking with Jesus. You want to wonder why God feels distant from you.
[00:31:19] It may not even be this sin. Repent of sin, turn from the sin that is weighing you down. Believe the gospel and. And walk with Jesus. It can be painful and awkward and accountability can be difficult. But it is God's will for your life that you would be holy, which means that you would be pure. So now spent a lot of time there. Now let's move on to another subject. Verse 9.
[00:31:48] God's will for your life is that you would be holy. Sexually pure, but also generous. Notice verse 9.
[00:31:54] Now, concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you. Consider Paul writing to this church and saying, when it comes to love, I don't need to say anything to y' all.
[00:32:08] Y' all have got this down.
[00:32:11] It's obvious. And we read in chapter one, throughout the known world, people are talking about the love of this church for one another. It's one reason we picked the book to go through is because it's so encouraging with love.
[00:32:24] And we talked about last week, we look at this church and we see this love here that is abounding more and more. And he says, I don't even have to write to you about this verse 10 for that indeed what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you brothers to do this more and more. He said, you've got love down. How do you have love down? Back in verse nine, he says, you've been taught by God to love one another.
[00:32:51] We said this last week. A part of Christian DNA, when you believe the gospel is love, because you've experienced the greatest love ever. That God would love a sinner and give his son for the sinner and that the Spirit of God would pour this love out in your heart. It is a part of who you are and you love. And he says, we look upon you and we see this.
[00:33:11] A few weeks ago, Eric talked about the offering that this church had taken up and had even in First Corinthians begged Paul that they could send to other churches in Macedonia. And they're doing it with joy, even from the poverty they are giving. So Paul says, we see your love and then in a very tangible way, we see in the way you're serving other churches throughout the known area. And so you love in a way that's even beyond your own fellowship. But what does he tell them to do? Do this more and more. And that phrase has already been used. It means to excel.
[00:33:47] So he says, you're really good at brotherly love. Don't stop, don't stop.
[00:33:56] Continue, do it more and more. Get better at it.
[00:34:00] You can even love more. Excel at it. Look for more tangible ways to love. Don't settle. So God's will for your life is that you'd be holy, but you'd also be generous.
[00:34:12] And they're living this out in very clear ways. But finally, God's will for your life is that you would work hard.
[00:34:20] Notice verse 11.
[00:34:22] 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 walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
[00:34:37] And so what is God's will for your life? That you'd be holy, that you'd love, and then that you would work really hard before the unbelieving world.
[00:34:47] And notice he begins this by saying that you would live quietly. Now this is an interesting phrase here. When he says, aspire to live quietly, it means to be ambitious, to not be ambitious.
[00:35:03] You should strive, you should be ambitious, to not be. What's he saying there? You need to strive to be humble and meek before others. Your ambition is humility, which means ultimately it's meekness that's not loud.
[00:35:20] Now, what had gone on here is there were, and we're going to talk about this in the next few weeks. There's a lot of end times conspiracy theories that are going around. Thessalonica and the believers now, all of a sudden, they know what's going to happen in the end, and they begin to get into all of these debates and they begin to get into all of the controversy. And some in the church take it a little too far and they become kooky false teachers.
[00:35:46] And Paul's saying, don't do that.
[00:35:48] Believe the gospel, preach the gospel, but don't become kooks.
[00:35:54] Live quietly.
[00:35:55] And then he says, mind your own affairs, mind your own business.
[00:36:01] You don't have to be involved in every debate, in every controversy. And Paul would say, in light of all the political and social unrest that's already in your city, by the way, people are offended by the gospel, why do you want to make them more offended?
[00:36:17] Why do you want to bring in some other controversies and other things to make people mad at you? They're mad at you enough because you believe in Jesus.
[00:36:26] So let's just stick to that.
[00:36:28] But then he says in here, he says, so how do you do it? Well, you mind your own affairs. What does that mean? You mind your own house.
[00:36:36] And what he would say to them is, be humble, be quiet, and focus on the responsibilities in your own home, discipling your own family. And if you do that, you don't have time for everybody else. You don't have time to stir up controversy.
[00:36:53] And that's why he says, work with your own hands to provide.
[00:36:56] In Second Thessalonians, he'll say, if you don't work, you don't eat.
[00:37:02] It's up to you to take care of your family. You see, what had also happened with some of these kooky theories is the thought that Jesus was coming back caused a lot of the believers to just stop working.
[00:37:16] Paul, you said Jesus could come back any moment.
[00:37:20] Not going to work tomorrow.
[00:37:22] I'm just going to sit around and wait for Jesus. And so they don't work, then everybody else has to take care of them.
[00:37:30] And he says, don't be that person.
[00:37:33] Don't be a kook or a mooch.
[00:37:37] And we see how this happens all the time. Laziness often breeds bored meddling and gossip and slander, particularly in our day. Online person doesn't have a job, lays around scrolls, Facebook all the time. They seem to be involved in just about every controversy that's out there, because if they had a job, they wouldn't have time for that.
[00:37:58] Often, even pastors I know who are involved in all the things that are out there, and they're involved in every debate. People ask me, did you hear about this? Do you hear about this? No.
[00:38:07] You don't know what's going on in this convention? This. No, I don't. Why? I. I have a job and I have a family, and there are 700 people waiting on me.
[00:38:19] I don't have time for that.
[00:38:22] And that's the same thing that's going on here is be quiet, focus on your own home, focus on your life, and get to work.
[00:38:33] And notice, he says, just as we instruct you, we were examples of this. Paul was a tent worker in Thessalonica so that the believers there didn't have to take care of him and he could preach the gospel. And he said, this is how you're to live before the outside world and you're to be dependent on no one. His point here is we are to carry ourselves in a way that gains gospel credibility, and we are to be holy and we are to work hard.
[00:38:58] You understand that your daily life what most of us do day in and day out is work to provide.
[00:39:05] And Paul says, I don't want you to think that that has nothing to do with the gospel.
[00:39:11] Because if you're not working, people think you're just weird and you're kooky and you're no help to them. You're not serving them, you're not loving them. But if you work hard, you gain credibility and you become a witness of the gospel to the outside world.
[00:39:29] You see, our unbelieving family members are not impressed with a Christianity that can't hold a job and is always scrolling and then has our hand out for mission trips.
[00:39:43] Your unbelieving parents, they don't go, wow, this Christianity has really changed you.
[00:39:52] Your co workers, they're not drawn to a gospel of someone who can't show up on time.
[00:40:00] You can't show up on time. They're always having to take care of your business. And then at the lunch table you say, let me tell you how Jesus changed my life.
[00:40:08] If this is the way Jesus changed your life, I don't want no part of it.
[00:40:12] No, we work hard and we gain credibility with the gospel. Why? Jesus is our boss.
[00:40:18] And so whatever employer we work for is no longer our boss.
[00:40:23] They're a sub boss. Ultimately, Jesus is our boss and he has way higher standards than anybody else.
[00:40:30] Why are you showing up early? Why are you leaving late? Why? Why do you do things with excellence? Because Jesus is my boss. Let me tell you about Jesus.
[00:40:40] He created everything that means everything I do must reflect his glory.
[00:40:46] And so what's God's will for your life?
[00:40:50] That you'd be holy, that you'd love and that you'd work hard seems really obvious, right?
[00:40:55] It's what we are involved in. Constantly turning from sin, turning to Christ, trying to love one another and serve Jesus in the world by loving for the sake of the gospel. And then we're working. So, okay, that's God's will for your life. And some of you are saying, well, I'm already doing that. Well, you got it.
[00:41:17] Then there's others of us. And it may be the most overlooked issue. And it may be, it may not even be an issue that was mentioned today.
[00:41:27] It may be anger, it may be prayerless worry in your life, it may be gossip and slander.
[00:41:35] And you're wondering, you're wondering, what is God's will for my life? And the most obvious thing is right in front of you, repent and do work. And turning from those things, deal with your own sin because it's really easy, a sermon like this for you to begin to think about other people.
[00:41:56] That's not God's will for your life. God's will for your life is to think about yourself right now.
[00:42:02] And here I got good news for you.
[00:42:04] Whatever the sin is, whatever you need to move into Jesus is good.
[00:42:11] I don't want you to hear this as a pushing away.
[00:42:15] How do I know that the worst sin in the room today, if you brought it before Jesus, he would forgive you and cleanse you.
[00:42:23] Well, the whole story of the Bible is Jesus dying for an unfaithful bride and loving her for eternity.
[00:42:31] He's going to love you turn from your sin. That is his will for your life. Today, come and learn how to love.
[00:42:38] Experiencing the greatest love that has ever been known. Jesus meeting your greatest need, dying for your sin and raising you from the dead. And come work with Jesus today. The one who does the Father's will, He works to do the Father's will. He gives us the Spirit to work with him.
[00:42:57] I can tell you what God's will for your life is today, for all of us here. Whatever it is, God's will for your life is to come to Jesus.
[00:43:08] He's the will of God in flesh. Jesus is ultimately your sanctification.
