1 Thessalonians 5 - Active Passiveness
- Chad Werkhoven
- Nov 22, 2022
- 2 min read
The world fumbles around in darkness, but you're called to live in the light.
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1 Thessalonians 4 (ESV)
1 Finally, then, brothers,
we ask and urge you
in the Lord Jesus,
that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God,
just as you are doing,
that you do so more and more.
2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification:
that you abstain from sexual immorality;
4 that each one of you know how to control his own body
in holiness and honor,
5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;
6 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.
7 For God has not called us
for impurity,
but in holiness.
8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards
not man
but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9 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,
10 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,
11 and to aspire
to live quietly,
and to mind your own affairs,
and to work with your hands,
as we instructed you,
12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders
and be dependent on no one.
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep,
that you may not grieve
as others do
who have no hope.
14 For since we believe
that Jesus
died
and rose again,
even so,
through Jesus,
God will bring
with him
those who have fallen asleep.
15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,
that we
who are alive,
who are left until the coming of the Lord,
will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord himself
will descend
from heaven
with a cry of command,
with the voice of an archangel,
and with the sound of the trumpet of God.
And the dead in Christ will rise first.
7 Then we
who are alive,
who are left,
will be caught up
together with them
in the clouds
to meet the Lord
in the air,
and so we will always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Previous DIG DEEPER posts on 1 Thessalonians
1 Thessalonians 5 Summary
The Old Testament prophets are a very diverse group of guys, coming from all sorts of different backgrounds, but they all pointed to one thing in particular: Yom Yahweh - The day of the LORD. Here's how the prophet Isaiah describes what that day will be like:
See, the day of the LORD is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. - Isaiah 13:9
We saw glimpses of this as we read through Revelation. Today Paul tells us that although this day will catch most people by surprise (v1-3), it need not surprise us, since we are children of the light and of the day (v5). For us, the Day of the LORD is something to look forward to, not be afraid of, because
God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (v9).
Dig Deeper
You know that feeling when you finally get to sit down after working for hours and you sort of drift off to sleep? Don't do that. Figuratively speaking, of course. It's fine to take a short snooze now and then, but the point is we live in tremendous comfort in 21st century Minnesota, so it's easy to let that comfort soften our outlook for the Day of the LORD and let our Spiritual Disciplines slip as we snooze in comfort.
You can't do this alone. You need to be present with other Christians each week, and they need you. Together we encourage and build up one another (v11).
Most importantly, remember that your sanctification is the result of God's work, not your own. This is the tension that you live in as a Christian: actively build yourself and others up, but know that it's the God of peace Himself who will sanctify you completely (v23).
AAA Prayer :
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: God of peace, who is coming to bring justice to all things (v2, 3)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (v16-18)
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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