Great Job – Keep It Up! (1 Thess. 4:9-12)

This is a sermon I preached in chapel at Maranatha Baptist University on 2/14/2022 as part of a series preaching through 1 Thessalonians.

Introduction

I don’t want you to get the wrong idea as students at Maranatha Baptist University; you hear a lot of sermons about sin, but that's not primarily how we as the faculty and staff think of you. We know you are God-fearing, Christ-honoring, Spirit-indwelt images of God, who are a kingdom of priests, joint-heirs with Christ, and walk in the Spirit. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul (along with his protégés Silas and Timothy) writes to young believers who possibly have been saved for less than a full year, and he is very pleased with their progress; they have grown in faith, love, and hope to the point where they are examples to the region of Macedonia around them. They are not perfect, and 2 Thessalonians will deal with some issues they still have, but they are growing well, and Paul is very happy to the point that he thanks God every time they come to mind, which is often.
I want you to know that we – the faculty and staff of Maranatha – do this for you: we thank God for his working in your lives, not just that you are here so we can get a paycheck! and we are proud of you and your spiritual progress. Do we see issues that need to be addressed? Yes, because we love you, and because our prayer for you is the one Paul prays in 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” We do see and are thankful to God for your growth, and we apologize if that doesn't come across clearly.

I have explained the situation of the original hearers of this epistle and why Paul was pleased with them, but let’s switch lanes and talk about who you are. You are students at a Christian college, many of you because you value education from a Christian perspective and recognize the dangers of the world and its agendas. Many of you are trusting God to provide for your next school bill and don't know how it will be paid. You are all working hard in your classes as good stewards of that privilege. You are investing in people around you eternally, praying for them, encouraging them, helping them. You are walking in the Spirit and maturing in godliness and wisdom as you seek Him in His Word. You are concerned about honoring God and doing His will in your lives. This was Paul's message to the Thessalonians, and this is my message to you today: Great job – keep it up!

Context of the Epistle

This section of 1 Thessalonians is really more of a transition between thoughts than a main thought, so before explaining this passage I will first stop to cite verses that explain thoughts developed elsewhere in the epistle which Paul summarizes very tersely here. 
  1. The driving themes of this letter are faith, love, and hope (1:2-3), and these three topics outline the three major sections of the epistle. Paul mentions them together in chapter 1, the longest thanksgiving in any of his epistles, as he is ecstatic about the Thessalonian's progress in growth.
  2. Chapters 2-3 recount Paul's ministry among the Thessalonians when he, Silas, and Timothy first brought the Gospel to them, before being kicked out of the city by the Jewish leaders – he seeks to convince them of his love for them and to confirm the Gospel message he preached to them.
  3. The end of chapter 3 is the transition from the first major theme of faith to the second major theme: love (3:12-13).
  4. Chapter 4 starts off with a discussion of sexual ethics. There is a link between sexual holiness and love: if you love others, you won't harm others in sexuality (4:6), though the primary drive of a godly sexual ethic is ultimate love for God, not for people (4:6-7).
  5. That brings us to our passage for today, which continues the theme of love in broader terms. These verses contain a joyful, caring congratulation of believers who are not perfect but are doing well at walking with God and living out their faith – and so are you! 
What Paul says to them is what I say to you as the student body of Maranatha: Great job – keep it up! The obvious question that emerges from the passage is “Keep doing what?” Paul goes on to explain some very specific actions which the Thessalonians – and we as well – should keep doing.

Keep Loving Others

vv.9-10 (KJV) But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. And indeed ye do it towards all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more …
Before we study what this passage says about love, we must remember that this is one epistle with a unified message. Let’s recap briefly what Paul has already said to the Thessalonians about love:
  1. This letter is full of references to tender, familial love from Paul, Timothy, and Silas toward the Thessalonians. Paul says their love for the Thessalonians is like that of a nursing mother for her child (2:7-8), a father for his children (2:11-12), and an orphaned child for his parents (2:17).
  2. Further, Paul frequently tells them of his deep and loving care for them in this letter, stating that he and his team could not bear to be apart from them after being forced out of the city (3:1-3), and that they prayed constantly for the Thessalonian believers during that time (3:9-10).
  3. He puts forth himself, Silas, and Timothy as examples for them to follow; but this is not because the Thessalonian believers are failing to love – they don't need to be commanded to love because they are already living it out (1:6-8).
  4. Remember, on Paul's first journey he traveled only in central modern-day Turkey, at that time called Asia. On his second journey, after crossing Asia, Paul had a vision from God sending him across the sea to Europe, specifically the region of Macedonia. Thessalonica was one of the first cities Paul entered in the region of Macedonia. We are not sure how long he was there – maybe only two months – and he had likely been gone for only a few months when he wrote this letter, so within half a year the Thessalonians had become examples to their own region, the one near them in Europe, and everywhere else Paul had been!
But how did these believers in Thessalonica become world-renown examples of love? Paul explains in these verses just what makes this love of theirs so praiseworthy.
  1. It is brotherly love. Paul’s use of this specific Greek word – φιλαδελφία – meaning “brotherly” or “sibling love” posits a paradigm shift in the Greco-Roman world; this “sibling love” was used in the Roman world only to describe relationships with family members. The early church was counter-cultural because it treated unrelated people as family; in fact, this practice led to some early confusion and charges of incestuous relationships from the surrounding world, since believers who were married would refer to each other as “brother” and “sister.” This love has several major implications:
    • Valuing other human beings as images of God (Gen. 1:27; 9:6; Jas. 3:9), played-out in not lying, coveting, stealing, murdering, committing adultery (Ex. 20:13-17).
    • Speaking and living the truth of the Gospel (1 Thess. 2:11-12), not leading others astray through false teaching (Gal. 1:7-9).
    • Depriving oneself of individual rights in order to love others (1 Cor. 10:23-24), rather than seeking one’s own gain (Jas. 3:13-16).
    • Hospitality: care for poor, widows, orphans, friends, and family (Jas. 1:27; Heb. 13:16), as opposed to using and abusing others for personal gain (Luke 22:25-27).
    • The previous section on sexual conduct (4:1-8) ties in with this theme; if you love your fellow believers, you will not sin against them sexually.
  2. They were examples of this love – so are you! Paul does not explain exactly how the Thessalonians showed this love, other than to say that they did so within their entire region of the world. But what about you – how are you an example of brotherly love to those around you? As a member of the faculty here at MBU, I am pleased to report that we have seen this love in you:
    • You have accepted each other from different walks of life to form one student body.
    • You have shared your bedrooms with complete strangers (roommates, visitors, Great Lakes Music Festival, sports tournaments), and we have received letters from past visitors thanking specific students for their love and hospitality.
    • You have welcomed strangers to eat meals with you in the Dining Commons.
    • I have seen some of you reaching out to the Academy students on campus.
    • You encourage each other with truth in various avenues, from Missionary prayer group to the Monday night SPARQ meetings and Society leadership.
    • Many of you are in dorm leadership as supervisors, RAs, and room leaders.
    • Several of you work with the student success center as tutors. Great job – keep it up!
  3. They had learned this love from God – so have you! Paul reminds the Thessalonians that when he, Silas, and Timothy first preached the Gospel to them, the Gospel was confirmed by God through their character, and also through miraculous signs from the Holy Spirit (1:5). Further, the Thessalonians imitated them in their lives and godliness, which led to their being examples for others (1:6). I hope you have seen godly examples in your homes, churches, and here at Maranatha, and Scripture speaks often of how we should imitate those who imitate Christ, just as the Thessalonians did (1 Cor. 11:1). But examples are not the ultimate basis for our Christian faith and character; for the Thessalonians and for you the basis is the Word of God, which for them consisted of preaching confirmed by miracles, while for us today it is the Bible as authorized by the Father, Son, and Spirit (Heb. 1:1-2; 2:1-4).
  4. They were to continue to abound in this love – so must you! The Christian life is not one in which we can slack off and rest on past achievements; instead, we must be ever pressing forward toward the goal of Christlikeness, and Paul urges the Thessalonians forward in this truth (4:10b). Yet, Paul's prayer is that God would empower them and sanctify them (3:12-13). You cannot become holy by making yourself holy; you become holy by drawing closer to God, who is holy. We do this by seeking him in Scripture, as Paul explains in a parallel prayer for another church. In Philippians 1:9-11, he prays that they would be filled with “fruits of righteousness” by growing in knowledge and discernment; these fruits probably refer to the “fruit of the spirit” which Paul develops elsewhere (Gal. 5:22-23). What all of this means is that You don't do the fruit of the Spirit; it grows in you as you walk with God and get to know Him better by yielding to His Spirit. And we, the faculty and staff of MBU, see this fruit of the Spirit in your lives with each other, and with visitors, and with us. Great job – keep it up!
But it is not just their love for which Paul praises the Thessalonians; he also praises them for living a quiet Christian life of obedience to God.

Keep Minding Your Business

v.11 … and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you …
What should the daily life of a follower of Christ look like? Miracles and signs? Those were given to authenticate the message and authors of Scripture, both the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament apostles. In the New Testament specifically, these gifts seem largely to have ceased once the apostles moved on from a city, though some did continue for a time. For most of us, though – and for much of salvation history in both the Old and New Testaments – the Christian life looks like quiet faithfulness.
  1. They were to live quietly – so should you! Paul urges the Thessalonians to “live quietly.” To clarify this statement, let’s look at a parallel passage; in 1 Timothy 2:1-3, Paul teaches that the church should pray for government leaders so that they stay out of the way enough that we can live “a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.” We do not seek position, honor, riches, or fame for ourselves; though we accept them as they come from God, recognizing they bring great personal responsibility as well as spiritual challenges. This is what Paul refers to in Philippians 4:11-13 when he says that he can do “all things through Christ” – he is referring to the previous verse, which discusses the trial of serving God in poverty and the trial of serving God in wealth. I am not here advocating for political quietism; believers can and should be involved in the issues of society as much as they can in order to fulfill the last command in this section: to live honorably toward unbelievers (v.12). However, we do not find our hope for the future in politicians or political movements; our hope is in the Gospel and the return of Christ to establish his kingdom on earth.
  2. They were not to be nosy gossips – neither should you! I don’t have time to perform a full biblical theology on the subject of gossip just now, so I will briefly summarize the gist of Scripture’s teaching here. Paul tells the Thessalonians “to do your own business.” The idea is that they should occupy themselves with their own livelihood and not with that of others – the opposite of being a nosy, busybody, gossip. Scripture speaks elsewhere on this subject, both in the Old Testament (Pro. 6:16-19) and the New (Eph. 4:31-32), among myriad other teachings on sinful speech. I will summarize this teaching in three points:
    • Gossip destroys lives. It harms reputations, often in was from which they cannot recover; this is the opposite of love, which denies itself to serve another.
    • Gossip attacks fruitfulness. It destroys your walk with the Spirit, who produces the fruit of godliness in your life.
    • Gossip is an attack on God through His images. When you slander a human, you slander God’s image, which is to slander God, and “these things ought not so to be” (Jas. 3:10).
  3. They were to work their jobs – so should you! This problem is addressed more fully in 2 Thessalonians. There were some in the Thessalonian church who – instead of following the example of Paul, Silas, and Timothy, who chose to work and support themselves rather than live on the giving of the people – refused to work and instead lived off other believers. About this situation, Paul says in 2 Thess. 3:7-10: 
“For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.”

As followers of Christ, we work to have enough to provide for our own needs (3:10), to provide for our relatives (1 Tim. 5:8), to give to others (Eph. 4:28), to provide for our pastors (1 Tim. 5:17-18), and to enjoy this life (Eccl. 2:24-26). We would do well to imitate the prayer of Proverbs 30:8-9 often to reset our focus.

The goal in all of this is conduct that speaks well of God, and all of it really points back to brotherly love. Love for others leads us to live quiet, faithful lives of encouraging speech and generous hospitality toward each other as we all follow Christ. We at MBU have seen you students work hard at your jobs while you are full-time students so that you can attend classes, and then give generously to those around you. We have seen you encourage each other in truth. We have seen you perform acts of hospitality by welcoming each other and visitors into your homes. Great job – keep it up!

Keep Walking Worthy

v.12 … that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
I have used as the title of my third point wording that is not found in this passage, but that Paul does use elsewhere in this epistle (2:11-12) as well as throughout his epistles (Eph. 4:1; Col. 1:10; cf. Phil. 1:27) to communicate the same concept. All of this together – brotherly love, hard-working quiet lives, encouraging speech – is what it means to walk worthy of God.
  1. They were to continue to be an example to believers – so must you! Loving others and minding our business is the evidence – fruit – of our salvation and it constitutes our testimony to unbelievers. Further, our example of godliness found in living a quiet life of loving others, minding our business, and working a job encourages other believers to do the same. 
  2. They were to continue to be honorable toward unbelievers – so must you! Scripture is clear that, in terms of priority, we are to focus our actions of love and good works on our fellow beleivers (Gal. 6:10). Yet, that does not mean that we are excused from living out an example of godliness to the world (1 Pet. 2:11-12) – far from it! In fact, it is this conduct which should lead unbelievers to ask about the hope within us (1 Pet 3:14-17). The conduct Paul is speaking of here is living a quiet life of loving others, minding our business, and working a job; this is honorable, enables us to serve, and keeps us from taking advantage of others. Christians should not be mooches, sponges, or leeches, who refuse to work and instead live on whatever they can beg from others; such conduct is not honorable and speaks poorly of Christ and his Church, which destroys our witness.
We have seen you work hard and walk worthy, and so has Watertown; we as a university are well-liked in town, and local businesses want Maranatha students and graduates as employees. Great job – keep it up!

Conclusion

Why does all of this matter? Because love leads to holiness. Paul writes multiple prayers for the Thessalonians in this epistle, one of thanksgiving which serves as part of the introduction (1:2-10), another regarding their sanctification which serves as his conclusion (5:24-25), and one in the middle of the epistle, with which Paul transitions from his first major theme of faith to his second of love. In this transitionary prayer, Paul prays: 
“And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards one another, and towards all men, even as we do towards you: to the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.”
 Here, Paul explains that love toward others is integral in the process of sanctification, that it is part of the process God uses to make his followers “unblameable in holiness.” This will occur when Christ completes our salvation from sin and its effects, either at the Rapture or the end of our lives. Remember that our Lord Jesus Christ summarized Scripture as love for God and love for others (Mt. 22:34-40). We love God, which shows itself in love for others; but that love shown to others helps us to love God more as we become like him – this is the process of sanctification. I have seen this in you as a student body, and I want to encourage you to continue to abound in love and good works. Great job – keep it up!

All Scripture verses come from the KJV.

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