The Walk

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. 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. I Thessalonians 4:1-8

Paul was satisfied that the believers at Thessalonica were steadfast in the faith he and Silvanus and Timothy had brought to them. He also knew full well that all humans, even believers in Jesus Christ, have old sin natures. Believers’ earthly life is a constant battle between the indwelling Holy Spirit and Satanic forces of evil. Satan knows our lust patterns and is capable of tempting us in our areas of weakness, often when we think we are totally beyond that particular attraction.

Reverting to the old lusts will not negate our salvation. That is God’s eternal work in us, through His perfect Son. One who is born into God’s family cannot become unborn. What does happen to the reversionist is he loses all credibility with unbelievers and loses his fellowship with God and with fellow believers. Experientially, he becomes “a man without a country.” He is no longer an unbeliever, so he can never be relaxed wallowing in the pigpen of worldliness. He is carnal in his thinking and behavior, so he cannot completely identify with his Christian brethren. It is a frustrating, lonely existence, and one that is characterized by private and public shame. God's will is for our sanctification--holiness--eternal and temporal.

These Thessalonians were maintaining their walk (conduct) in a manner pleasing to God, Paul knew. His motive for these comments was to encourage them to continue refining their Christian conduct. They were instantly and eternally sanctified (made holy—set apart unto God) at the moment they believed in Jesus Christ. That’s positional truth. All born-again believers are IN CHRIST. Forever. Experientially, though, our personal sanctification is a matter of our own growth in grace and our self-discipline to live as Jesus lived and as He has taught us to please the Father. This has everything to do with our continued growth and our earthly witness for Jesus Christ.

In the culture of these Gentile believers, idolatry and sexual immorality had been the norm. All kinds of sexual immorality. It was common practice in their home life, in their social life and in their religion. Paul realized these believers would face great temptation in this area of sin, and felt compelled to warn them against defiling themselves in this way. As adult converts, monogamy or celibacy would be a whole new way of life for them. Of course, the Holy Spirit indwelling and filling them would enable them to maintain self-control, and Paul wanted to stress the importance of doing that, since to disregard this principle of holiness would be offensive to God, Who had given them the Holy Spirit. God's discipline for disobedience is a fearful thing. 

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 walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. I Thessalonians 4:9-12

“Brotherly love” is the order for Christianity. That’s love for the Christian brethren. It is not the same as the unconditional compassion we are to have for all mankind. That is simply grace in action. Brotherly love is affection for family. We believers share something eternal that we can never share with worldlings, because the unbelievers have no spirit and no concept of God’s truth. Again, Paul knew they understood this and were practicing it, but he emphasized that we really cannot love too much, and part of love is minding our own business…respecting others’ right to privacy. Loving the brethren does not mean busybodying in their private lives. If we know a brother or a family is in need, of course we must help as much as possible; but the best policy is to provide for ourselves and our families, not expecting anything from others, and to keep our conduct above reproach before unbelievers, who love to accuse us of laziness and sin. So much of what is taught in these epistles as the Christian Way of Life is simple common sense. A rare commodity these days.

These are instructions and encouragements for life in the world as we know it. This age will end, we know not when, and then life for us will be the ideal that God has always intended for His people. That ideal cannot be achieved in these bodies of corruption, but we can apply what we know about Jesus Christ and we can pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and we can yield our souls to that Spirit in our daily decisions and actions. That is experiential sanctification. We wouldn’t be instructed to practice these things if it were not possible to do. It is possible, and God expects it of the people He calls His Own. He has provided everything we need for our life-support system in the devil’s world.

Not only is this way of life possible for believers, it is the only way of life that brings peace and contentment to the children of God.