0:01
We've read it a couple of times at this point. Uh 1 Thessalonians 4, the sort of first little section of it here. Uh I am going to read it again this morning this morning to remind us,
0:19
but we'll see if we can chip off an actual chunk of it here this morning since we've been looking quite a bit at the the way these threads carry through. So again, Paul tends to have thoughts that carry on throughout his uh his
0:30
epistles and the way he constructs things are not necessarily a nice even breaks for us. So I want to pick up in verse one of Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and read down
0:41
through verse 12 uh this morning. Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to
0:52
how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is
1:03
the will of God, your sanctification. that is that you abstain from sexual immorality, and that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful
1:14
passion like the Gentiles who do not know God. And that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger of these things, just as we also told you before
1:25
and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives his Holy
1:37
Spirit to you. 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
1:50
practice it toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more and to make your ambition, sorry, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend
2:01
to your own business and work with your hands just as we have commanded you so that you will behave properly towards outsiders and not be in any need.
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So what is Paul inciting them to here? We talked last week um
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we have of course this phrase twice here excel still more nope throwing the pens on the ground. Um but we talked a good bit last week uh this transition to the practical. So, as
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Paul transitions into his more uh application, if you like, he's he's turned to injunctions towards godly living. Some uh headings may have it. Um
2:53
that this flows out of his preceding theology. So, there is a logic there and we understand that the reason why as we indicated last week, so many of the Pauline letters have theology first and
3:04
then practical outworking of it is because that is the logical flow. the responsibilities and actions of the Christian life flow out of the theology and the philosophy that precedes it in the letter. So this is the um the logic
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or the the flow of the thought here. Um again, as we've been going through here, I've tried to point out a few times where the uh maybe tweaking our understanding of the English wording u
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by understanding things out of the Greek a little bit. And I hope that's been helpful. If it hasn't been helpful, I guess let me know. Um, and we'll we'll focus our time elsewhere. He says here
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in uh the first little section of chapter 4, um, finally then, or at least it's translated in English, finally then, um, although he's only halfway through his epistle. Um, so the actual,
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again, just to tweak your understanding of the Greek, it might be more correctly understood as as to the rest or now. Then he's he's definitely transitioning
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his thought here. So this is a perfectly fine place for a chapter break, but it's not really finally. It's almost as a consequence then, brethren. As we talked about, this comes out of his theology.
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It transitions here. He speaks here of um his his wording here, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus. Um you may see significant variation in your
4:26
versions depending on which version you're reading. The words there, requests and exhort. Um both of those are fairly common words in the Greek. And in the Greek, they are words that
4:37
did multiple duty. They were used in a lot of different places and can mean a lot of things. Uh in contrast to a lot of the things that Paul has done in the letter, these are actually quite gentle.
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So we talked about a couple of the other places where he used very strong or exceeding language. Um request is pretty good. Um the exhort you might even uh
4:58
translate rather as encourage. He almost says, I request and encourage you. It's a very a very uh what's the right word here? I again I'll lean on gentle I suppose. Uh he's
5:10
using this wording almost in the sense of that you're you're you're mentioning it to someone in the full confidence that they already understand this and they're going to do it. You don't really have to force the matter. You don't have
5:21
to push it. Um it's it's request and encourage because I have every confidence that you are already in the right vein here. Okay. So it ties into his excel still more as you received
5:35
instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God. Um so he speaks here of the Christian walk and this is one of those phrases that perhaps has been um
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co-opted or beaten to death in the English language in the in the time and the day in which we live. The idea of the Christian walk um fills whole sections of uh Christian bookstore
5:56
shelves. And yet it is a biblical phrase. You have it here in Paul. He says, "As you walk, um the the natural consequence of that word walking is the
6:08
idea of forward progress, steady forward progress." Elsewhere, of course, Paul uses, and we've already talked about it in our study here, but the idea of the marathon, running a race, um, but a long
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one, uh, the idea of, he says in that same section, boxing or fighting, but not as one beating the air. So, the idea of exertion, the idea of steady
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progress, the idea of moving forward with it. Um the analogy that occurred to me because he uses the term walk here. Um
6:42
my brother is is in the Air Force and told us uh a story in when they have to do certain examinations for physical fitness in their PT. They have to to go
6:54
a certain distance in a certain amount of time and if you are over that amount of time you're disqualified. Additionally, if you stop, you are disqualified. So if at any point your feet come to a complete stop, you're
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disqualified and you have to try again another day. Um, and so apparently those who start out uh not in great physical fitness sometimes feel very ill having to run for that long,
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but you can't stop to um yawn in technicolor, shall we say, at the side of the track or you'll be disqualified. So they developed what they call the airman shuffle, which is even when
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you're really sick and you got to let it out, keep your feet moving forward. Like however slow that is, as long as your feet are moving forward. So uh Paul is telling them here, excel still more.
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He's he's sort of looking at him and they you're you're walking well, you're running well, keep going, go better. But I was thinking of of this in terms of some of us some days um perhaps all
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we're managing is the airman shuffle. But as long as we're making forward progress, as long as we are walking, as long as we are moving forward, that's what's in view here is that steady forward progress. Now, uh one of the
8:05
commentators had a another analogy he used that of rowing that um you know, if you're a rower, you can rest on your oars having put the boat into motion. you can you can lean
8:15
on your ores and let it coast, but pretty soon you're going to be at the mercy of the current. And so, um, letting those things go slack, um, is not the the thing in view here. So,
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don't be disqualified. Don't slack off. No flagging. Um, but I'll say for myself, um, I think our last couple of sessions talking about love to all uh,
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caused a certain amount of of constrnation among folks. Um, I I'll mention for myself this Excel still more is the one that I find the most difficult. Uh, I
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really don't like when I'm working hard and I'm I'm doing what I feel like is my best and somebody says that's great. Now do better. do better. Really? I mean, come on. I'm I'm giving it my best. I'm giving it my all. I have
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to do better. But he says here a couple of things that I think are important in the context of it that that help us understand this.
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understand this. One is he says um how you ought to walk and to please God. And secondly he says here uh a little bit further down in verse seven I think is is key to our
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understanding of this whole section. God has not called us to the purpose of impurity. Um but to sanctification. He who rejects this is
9:33
not rejecting man but the God who gives his holy spirit to you. So it is in the Lord Jesus that he's requesting these things. It is not from a man. uh Matthew Henry in his commentary discussed the
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idea of those who despise instruction to holiness because they hear it from men. Okay. So the idea that someone says uh well there are things that are right and wrong. Um you should not be behaving in
9:57
a sexually immoral way or defrauding people sometimes rubs people the wrong way because well who are you to tell me? You're just a man like I'm a man. who says you get to tell me what is right
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and what is wrong and what is holy and what is not. But Paul is very clear here that this is not simply instruction from Paul. This is the will of God. He says
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here in no uncertain terms. So the idea that this is not strictly from men is being passed as a message through men. I think the refrigerator door might be
10:39
Oh, it could be something else. Okay. Um, who knows what these beeps mean? Those who despise instruction to holiness because they hear it from men. So Paul addresses this, but he says this is the kind of conduct that should
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characterize those who belong to Christ. So he says here the the sort of characteristic, the things in which you should excel still more. Um,
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as we look at the wording here in verse two, he has this word here,
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Um, I think commandments is a familiar enough word to all of us. However, it was curious to me to discover that this um this actual
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conjugation of the word only appears here and in first Timothy. The New Testament actually does not use this word almost at all. Okay, so a lot of times we hear a lot
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about commandments. Um Aaron has been working through uh the law as wisdom. Well, the word commandments shows up a lot, but it actually shows up very
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little in the New Testament. What does show up a lot is commands or command as he says here
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in the noun form it only shows up here and in first Timothy which I thought was very interesting. Um so the idea of command is fairly common in the scriptures but the idea of commandments
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here is is relatively rare but it has the idea of of a command or an order passed down through the line of soldiers. So it is that sort of um
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unquestioned or authoritative idea when he says commandments it's the idea of of a command passed along down the line or the chain of command perhaps might be the phrase that occurs to us.
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So he says here that this the um command um commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. And we talked about this last week. Um by the
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authority is not not our best option here. Um in or through or by Jesus might be the right way to do that. It's a very short word in the Greek. Um that really
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just means u as a consequence of or or in view of this. So he says this is the will of God. This is the will of God. So he is not
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Your sanctification is his will. Um, he does not admit of the phrase that has, as far as I can tell, mostly fallen back out of popularity, but was popular 10 or 15 years ago. The idea of carnal
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Christians is uh is not in Paul's thinking here at all. It is God's will that you shall be holy. Okay? It is his will that you will be sanctified.
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be sanctified. Um, there is an unfortunate resurgence. Although I can't see, um, and maybe those of you who who pay more attention to the world outside than I do can tell me if that phrase carnal Christians has
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resurged. There does seem to be a resurgence at this specific moment of um, pastors, quote unquote, who uh,
14:31
are valued for their roughness. I'll put it that way. The idea that they are um very macho or otherwise have a certain
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uh bruskness or abrasiveness about them is what makes them popular or favored. Uh I don't think Paul's allowing that here. what he says here
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um and and we'll walk through this step by step but he says this is the will of God your sanctification that you abstain from sexual immorality that you know how to pos each knows how to possess his own
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vessel in sanctification and in honor not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God so is he speaking only of sexual immorality here I would
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actually indicate and I'll make the argument here.
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immorality when he says um that you ought to uh possess your own vessel in sanctification and honor not in lustful passion like the Gentiles. Do not
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transgress or defraud his brother in the matter. Now, this part caused a lot of uh conrnation amongst the commentators that I was reading. How on earth do we understand that phrase, do not defraud
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or transgress your brother in the matter if what he was just talking about was sexual immorality and only sexual immorality? Um, immorality? Um, I tend to agree that I think he's got in
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view here, he starts from that standpoint, but he has in view all of those kind of passions that can go unbridled. Okay. Anger, all of that sort of thing. Yeah, Justin.
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Yes. Thank you. That's that's an excellent reference there in First Corinthians. Um but I think that's what he's got in mind is he starts from this standpoint of sexual immorality. And I think it's significant that he's looking
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at that here because it's um it's an interesting phrasing. We've already talked about this. We're looking at the Thessalon Thessalon
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Thessalon Thessalon somewhere in there, the church in Thessalonica that um that um as far as we could read in Acts and as far as we understand from the phrasing
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that we have is primarily Greek. There were certainly some Jewish believers among it, but we we understand them especially we looked at that contrast that he had there in um chapter 2 where
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he seems to be drawing a line uh about the the way the Jews in particular opposed him in that city. We understand that that a significant portion of that church was made up of Greeks from the
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area. And yet what does he say here? Not as the Gentiles. I'm sorry.
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Yeah, that's an excellent point and and it was indicated and I think most of you are probably aware um that there's a there's a lot written in some of these things that is not necessarily spelled out in the New Testament, but a lot of
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idol worship or cults at the time involved temple prostitution and that kind of thing. That was absolutely a part of the way gentile culture interacted with their religion.
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You mentioned another taken with slaves, sexual liberties.
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Yeah. There's also and I don't know how common this was in the world at that time. You at least do see among similar peoples, this is thinking back in Genesis, how it was fully accepted and
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customary among the Philistines who were kindred people but among the Philistines to simply take a woman if she were alone in the street. Yeah.
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So, without without going into lurid detail about all the things the Gentiles got up to, I appreciate the point there. Um, I guess I'll say it this way since we're all here together in church and I want to be careful about how much we
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uncover things done in the dark, but there's a lot said at the moment. uh a lot of argument made actually in our culture about certain things are perfectly fine and natural because you
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can find them done by ancient cultures throughout the world. No. Okay. And also from Paul, no. Okay. Just because the Spartans got up
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to this stuff doesn't mean that's a normal and natural thing for us to be doing. Okay. And Paul says, you we got to draw a line under our action as
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Christians as separate from what the Gentiles do as normal. That's what we're talking about here. But I think it goes beyond simply the sexual immorality to all unbridled
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passions. And I appreciate Justin's reference there to First Corinthians because he's certainly starting from the standpoint of how you behave bodily.
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Okay. Um but I think that goes on to other things. Um the idea of of transgressing and defrauding there I think is is moving us a step beyond
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that. Um that. Um the thing that occurred to me with that phrase in there in there particularly so obviously Paul is saying abstain from sexual immorality. Um, again,
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some of the comments in the the commentaries got a little bit weird about possessing his own vessel and sanctification and honor. Um, I made reference to Elott last week. He was
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very helpful to me last week. He was not helpful to me this week. His his commentary talking about this said, "This idea of that one should possess his own vessel doesn't make any sense."
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We literally have a phrase in the English, get a hold of yourself. I think that's what the Greek is saying here is literally get a hold of yourself. Be in control of yourself.
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Get a grip. Um, so I was I was quite baffled by where he went with that one. So I'm going to leave the rest of his uh comments aside there. But I think this
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is exactly it. He says um to possess in sanctification and in honor. We've talked before the idea of sanctification is the idea of setting apart the idea of of being holy. And we've talked about
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holiness as a direction. So he's linking together in this little section that we've talked about. We should be walking in the direction of holiness and keeping oursel out of the mud in the gutters.
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Okay? If you want to if you want to use the analogy here, walk forward in these things. Make steady progress on the road and keep out of the muck. Okay? So keep
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yourself in in uh sanctification and in honor. But he says do not transgress or defraud his brother in the matter. Um we live in a time where there is a lot
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of uh exploitation of workers. That is a thing that happens. And I have seen more than once people express the idea that well if your boss is uh taking advantage of you, you should have no compunction
22:32
about stealing from him or cheating on your time card. for example, if he's not paying you the wage that you deserve. No. Okay. Paul says here, "Do not
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transgress and defraud." Why? The Lord is the avenger of these things. God knows if you're being taken advantage of. God is aware. Okay? It is not your
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place or your uh power to take these things unto yourself. Okay? I think that's part of what we've got here.
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Just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you for God has not called us to the purpose of impurity but in sanctification. in sanctification. Then he says, "He who rejects this is
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not rejecting man but the God who gives his Holy Spirit to you." There's a lot wrapped up in that. But he says he's saying here specifically, if you will not walk according to these things, if
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you reject this idea or this concept, you're not rejecting just Paul. You're rejecting literally God. Um, I appreciated uh Morris's comment on this.
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He said it it it's it's the kind of rejection or disrespect. He says basically here if you say, "Oh, I can go do whatever I want in any of these
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things that Paul has just outlined." It's saying, "I can safely disregard God. I can safely ignore what he has to say to me." You're rejecting him in that
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way. You're you're pushing back against him in this way. And he says not only that but but Paul indicates here the God who gives his holy spirit to you i.e. the God who has literally given you the
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help you need in this moment. The God who has given his spirit to dwell in you to help you resist sin. The the God who has started the work of sanctification
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in you. That's who you're rejecting here by doing these things. by giving into lustful passions, by giving into um you know selfishness in the form of doing
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what I think is right or making what I think is right happen. Okay. Are there any questions or comments on that section there?
24:47
He says then in verse nine, now then uh as to the love of the brethren, you have no need of anyone to write you. You yourselves are taught by God to love one another. For indeed you do practice it together toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia. But we urge you brethren
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to excel still more to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands just as we commanded you so that you will behave properly towards outsiders and not be any in any need.
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Um so we talked about this somewhat last week and I'll say a few more words here. As to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write you. You yourselves are taught by God to love one
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another. That is a perfectly fine rendering of it in the English, but the way he says it is a little bit more consequential. We don't have a a a verb that does exactly this in the
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English, but in the Greek that that um are taught by God to love. That to love in the Greek is not a simple infinitive. It's really as a consequence of God's teaching you, you are now prepared to
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love one another. It's it's very much a followth through followth through um God has taught you so as to be able to love one another or something to that
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effect. It's it's not a simple infinitive. So it's very much consequence of action taken. Um so he says you you have been taught by God to love one another. And uh he says, "You
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have indeed practiced it um toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia. We urge you to excel still more." So we looked uh again he he he said nothing
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but good things about them hereto for in their love for one another. We saw this in in chapter 1. We saw it again near the end of of chapter 3 where he seems
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to be praying for them in in 11 through 13. He says um that that you increase and abound in love towards one another and for all just as we also do for you.
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And yet here he says you don't have anyone need for anyone to write to you. Well, I think he recognizes a that they are they are in the right vein and yet
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they are not yet complete. We've talked about this and and I welcome any any questions or comments here. The idea that this sanctification is a is a directionality that we are
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oriented towards God. We are oriented towards holiness. We are oriented towards those things that God desires to see the actions or behaviors that are indicative of being a Christian. And yet
27:26
we recognize in ourselves it's not a complete thing that happens all at once, right? It is that progress forward.
28:09
Yeah. So I would say that that that's reasonable. It has an element of now and not yet to it which is the it is a thing that is happening and yet it is also sure because God is doing it.
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doing very well for one another. They were still not doing all that well for the outside
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church. What would we observe the rest of the time? they still
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a little bit less yeah that's that's a good point um and I appreciate that because it is interesting here in in Thessalonians he's speaking to them in a way that
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seems to indicate that they're doing really well and yet they're not. We we again we read his phrase uh supply that which is lacking in your faith.
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A number of the commentators used this phrase here or or pointed to this phrase uh this idea of excelling still more and actually even where he says um
30:12
yeah so he says you practice it towards all who are in Macedonia. He's even indicated in chapter one effectively that people from the area have have come to meet him both in Corenth and and in Athens and said, you know, wow, you
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know, look at these guys and and what they're doing. And yet the the sense here, a lot of them indicate that there's a sense of this that extends beyond like, yeah, you're doing
30:35
pretty well loving each other as a church. You're not necessarily doing everything you're supposed to be doing in loving. you're not extending that the way it ought to be extended. Um, a
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couple of the commentators use this idea to speak specifically of charity. Um, the idea of supporting one another, and I think you can tie that maybe a little bit with what he says in verse 12, and
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we'll talk about that in a minute. But I I do appreciate your point there, the the comparison with Corinth. Um so he
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um you are taught to love one another and and you indeed practice it towards all the brethren here. There's a couple of things that we need to look at. One, uh of the commentators, I think it was Alexander McLaren was saying um we don't
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actually appreciate very well how strange this concept was in the ancient world. So the idea of of loving one another like a family was actually
31:32
fairly radical at the time. The ancient world was full of individual cults or various tribal groups or even nationalistic style things. Um, but the
31:44
idea that the Jews and the Greeks and all of these different people that were mixing together in Thessalonica could come together and love one another in a familystyle love was radical at the
31:55
time. Uh, there's actually, I think, an element that that blunts our understanding in the time in which we live because there's so much now of a history of sort of cultural
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Christianity. I mean we even had uh the so-called summer of love in this country that was nothing to do with Christianity but the idea of like peace, love and happiness man like that was not a thing
32:18
in the ancient world. That is some kind of perversion or consequence of the long history of Christianity that has pervaded the the culture that we inherit. But I I want to be careful here
32:30
to say I think there's a couple of things that are happening here which is that idea of love or that um
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love of the brethren or or of the family here can even be used sometimes as a as a wall a wall uh and not in a defensive way but in an exclusionary way. And I'll say it like
32:53
this. Um, this. Um, it's now deployed in some ways in in a kind of nationalism, right? The idea of like Christian nationalism using this
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idea of of a family or of a particular kind or group of people that we love as opposed to other kinds of people that we don't love. Right? These things can be very dangerous. And so Paul is not
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necessarily warning about that here, but I think it's it's a thing for us to keep in mind as we look at these things to be careful what we're doing here that we don't use the uh bull work of Christian
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love as some kind of uh offensive weapon. Aaron, weapon. Aaron, you're taking
33:59
because that that is an excellent point. So, um I I do think it's it's tied in with that. So, let's look at th this couple of phrases in the last 10 or so minutes that we have. So, he says um we urge
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you, brethren, to excel excel still more and make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend your own business. Work with your hands just as we have commanded you. Um
34:21
that's a really weird phrase in the Greek. Again, the English is fine, but uh the phrase here, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. Uh
35:08
The best I can tell from reading a couple of the Greek commentators by this point this has moved almost to a a sense
35:24
to seek restlessly um almost pursue. So he says here basically seek restlessly to be still. Work really hard
35:35
at working quietly. Uh one of them ch used this phrase have make it your ambition to have no
35:45
ambitions. It's it's that kind of paradoxical language that Paul is using here. James, you had your hand up.
36:05
Yeah. So the pho there in the Greek, the pho there in the Greek would relate more towards a thing that you set your love on or a thing that you've set your sights on is it's it's not quite the word am uh not quite the word obsession,
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but it would be sort of related to the idea of obsession that you've you've fixated on it in a way. Uh Justin
36:29
Yes, that that's that's exactly where we're going. So, um, I appreciate that. Well, let if you want to go now, since we've only got a few minutes, let's go just a few pages over in, uh, 2 Thessalonians. So, uh,
36:40
Aaron indicated, is this not a thing that he's having to warn because there's a reverse of it. And he's about to go on in 13 through the end of the chapter and talk about some of those things that relate to the Peruia, to the Lord's
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second coming. As far as we can tell, reading here in 2 Thessalonians, there are those who were not even working because they were like, "Well, the Lord's coming back. Why would I get a job?" Okay. So, let's look here in in 2
37:03
Thessalonians chapter 3. We could really read the whole thing. Um, but I'm going to pick up in verse 6 and read a a chunk here,
37:14
probably through 13 or so. So, uh, Paul again, 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, beginning in verse 6, he says, 'Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an
37:25
unruly life and not according to the tradition which you receive from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. Because we did not act in an undisiplined manner among you,
37:36
nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship, we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you. Not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer
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ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order. If anyone is not willing to work, he is not to eat either. For if
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we hear that some among you are leading an undisiplined life, doing no work at all, acting like busy bodies. Now, such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet
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fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. So he's saying here uh I think this ties in 100% with what he's written to them here in the first letter. The idea that providing for your
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own needs and also he says here in verse 12 of this section in first Thessalonians um so that you will behave properly towards outsiders and not be in any need. You won't depend on outside
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help. You as a body ought to be able to supply each other's needs, I think is exactly where he's going here. but also for yourselves. Take care of yourselves and your own requirements for life. The
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fact that you are part of the body of the brethren. The fact that we have the hope of the Lord's return does not excuse you from dealing with the practical realities of being alive on planet Earth. Okay? And you've got to do
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these things in a way that is he says it here directly properly towards outsiders. Don't give them an opening to criticize you as being lazy or
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his coming spoke of servants who became desparing and dissipation and drunkenness and mistreatment of one another and immorality seemed to all sort of flock together under that I have nothing to do
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mentality. It seems to tie back in with the first part of what he's telling Yeah. No, that's that's an excellent point and you're absolutely right. Um there is a
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phrase I I don't know that I've heard anybody say it in a long time, but there is a phrase out there in the English language of the the idea that he's so heavenly minded that he's no earthly good. Um,
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good. Um, I don't think Paul would really like that phrase particularly, but he's warning against the sentiment that that phrase expresses here, which is the he is adjuring them through this whole letter to have in your mind the
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direction of holiness. Okay? It's not an eitheror. The direction of holiness demands that as part of your behavior, you take care
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of the needs. You take care of your own needs. you take care of the needs of the body that you're in. The direction of holiness does not allow you to be frivolous with practical concerns to uh
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disregard the need to maintain yourself and your household. Um there there's uh and actually um
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Tim in one of his uh uh sections talking about some of the things that the the Anabaptists got up to, we looked at at least one incident of uh oh, the Lord is definitely coming back very soon and
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we're going to literally wall ourselves into this city with some provisions kind of thing. like we're not quite at that level here, but it does seem indicated from second uh Thessalonians that there was an element of the like eh, you know,
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we'll just sort of hang out uh with the with the brethren and sponge off of people and and we're here, you know, basking in love and and and just sort of mooching. Sexual immorality went hand in hand with
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that, too. Yes. Right. So he's he's basically indicating um and we've we've talked a little bit about this and we'll talk more about it as we go forward, but we've seen already
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and he's going to speak again about putting on armor being ready um and and uh prepared in these things. There is an idea very much and now I don't even have a logical flow to any of these so I'm
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going to go over here. The idea of discipline in the Christian life is fundamental to the way Paul
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thinks here. I used the phrase last week about the the way he uses the second coming as almost casual and I casual is not the right word. Um matterof fact, we'll put it that way. Paul deals with
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the idea of the second coming as matterof fact. It is a it is a central fundamental part of the way Christians behave. And yet he does not allow at any point that the idea that the Lord is
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coming again is an excuse for being undisiplined. All the rather it is the exact opposite. The fact that the Lord is coming again is all the reason to be disciplined, to be prepared, to be found
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in readiness. That's what he said here as we we looked um at the the phrase at the end of chapter 3. so that uh he may establish your hearts without blame and holiness before our God and father at
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the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. He's going to go on here in uh verse 13 of chapter 4 to talk about some of the concerns about the second coming. But he's saying here, be ready,
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be disciplined, and stand in readiness when the Lord returns inside and out. Be prepared having possession of yourself in in discipline, in holiness, and in honor.
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All right. Any particular questions? All right. Well, let's close there in a word of prayer as we prepare to go upstairs this morning.
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Father, we thank you for the the word that you've given to us. We thank you for the instruction that we have here. We thank you most of all, Lord, that you are the one who has given us the Holy Spirit to indwell us, to enable us to be
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able to do these things. Because we know that any attempt to undertake these things merely in our own power is a hopeless, a foolish attempt. But we do
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these things because you have given us that same power that raised Christ from the dead to be within us and enable us to give glory to God, to give glory to
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you with our lips, with our thoughts, but also as we have just read in your word, by our own actions and deeds that we walk uprightly in holiness, giving
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glory to you in the way that we behave and the way that we behave toward one another and outside. Father, we ask that you would again renew our energy for these things that we might not grow
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tired of doing good, but that we might excel still more. That we might have the energy to increase our labors in these things and our diligence in them. We ask all of these things that you might be
