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How secure do you or others feel in your family? Does you or your family think or believe that if they mess up in some way they will be put out of the family, rejected because of their mistakes or short comings? This includes extended family. I have heard numerous accounts of families who in the heat of the moment say something that brings a rift into the family causing a separation that is regretted for years to come. This happens because the members of the family do not feel secure in their place in the family. There seems to be restrictions put on the love shared or expectations that are made more important than the place in the family. So, how secure are the members of your family unit in the love that is shared amongst one another? Do your children feel like they can mess up tremendously and yet not lose their place, their security of who they are in the family? Do you? When we begin to look at the holiness of God and the holiness He requires of us it is easy to begin to doubt our place in the family of God. We begin to see the areas where we fall so short and mess up regularly so that they begin to make us feel like we are endeserving of a place in the family of God. It is in those times that we need to remember that our place in the family of God is not determined by how good we are or how much we mess up but is dependent upon the love of God for us in and through the work of Jesus, in life and on the cross for us giving us the security of our belonging in the family.
We can be sure of our security as a child of God based upon Jesus and His work for our unholiness. Even though we are sinful people with deceitful hearts, falling far short of the demand of God for holiness, we can still be secure in Christ’s righteousness credited to us. 1 Cor. 1:30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Our salvation and holiness does not depend on our works but on Christ’s work as the only man who lived a sinless holy life. Heb. 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 1 Peter 2:22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” A quote from Isaiah. Isaiah 53:11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Psalm 45:7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. 1 John 3:5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. Christ’s righteousness is basic to all the scriptures, both OT and NT. Jesus lived a sinless life. How many of us can say that about ourselves? Jesus could even challenge His enemies to examine Him to see if there was any sin in His life. John 8:46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? Kids tell all our secrets especially the sinful ones. He did this in front of His disciples who were with Him 24/7 and even they could not point out any sin in Him. His holiness was more than just self control so to be free of sin it was an attitude of His heart to do only that which was in the will of His Father. John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. His desire and attitude was to live His life to please His Father above any other. John 8:29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” This included His actions and motives along with His attitude. The end never justified the means for Him, if the means were against His Father’s will. Kids doing something good to get something they want selfishly. Wrong motives but right action. When it comes to our striving toward holiness, our motives must be holy, that is coming from our desire to do things because they are God’s will not so we can just get something. Every thought we have should be holy just as Jesus’ were, because God knows them even before we have thought through them fully in our minds. A problem Jesus never had because He alone perfectly met all the standards God has established. Matt. 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. The awesome thing about this is that He came to do it for us. Gal. 4:4–5 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
Blemishes on a clear face seem to stand out. There will be times when we consider the holiness of God and His demand for our holiness, that we feel insecure in our place in the family of God. These are the times when the blemishes of our sinfulness seem to stand out because we know how much God hates sin, which causes us to shrink back in insecurity, feeling convicted. This is when we need the assurance, more than ever, that Jesus came to die for those short falls of ours, to pay for them. If we get caught up in the negative of our sin it will keep us from striving toward the holiness God desires of us. We will want to just give up. But when we remember what Christ has done for us and our standing before the Lord we will desire to move forward. 2 Cor. 5:21 It will be in those low times when the enemy will come rushing in to remind us of how unholy we are. It is in those times we need to remind him and ourselves that Jesus paid for all our sins. Col. 2:13-15 There will be many times in our walk toward holiness when we will have to run to the cross to find the security we need because we have found ourselves fallen short. We will again need to remind ourselves as Paul did; 1 Tim. 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. These are the times when we will fall before Christ in worship and thankfulness for what He has done for us, what we are secure in.
Another thing abut Christ’s holiness we must remember and put into action; The way He lived His life, His holiness and righteousness, sinlessness, was meant to be an example to us of how to live our lives. 1 Pet. 2:19-25 It is to Jesus we are to look when we can not get it right. We look at the way He lived in order to please the Father. Eph. 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 1 Cor. 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. In those times when we don’t know what to do or to say we must ask our selves, “What would Jesus do here or what would be pleasing to the Father in this circumstance?” Our security in the family of God does not depend on our works but on Jesus’ work for us and His example for us to follow.
All this leaves us with a few questions to contemplate for our lives: Do we love the Lord enough and are we grateful enough to Him for our salvation, to strive to live our lives so they are pleasing to Him? This will take some sacrifices on our part. Rom. 12:1–2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Are we willing to look at all our activities, all our goals and plans and even our impulsive actions in light of the fact to see if they are pleasing to God or not? If we decide to take these steps it will take great effort on our part. We will need to get closer to God, knowing Him better and better, through the study of His word and in heart felt prayer, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and examine us.
It will mean we have to take time, a moment or more, to consider if what we are going to do is pleasing to God before we act and do it.
Easier to ask for forgiveness instead of permission. We should never think we can do something and then just ask forgiveness for it, this would be making light of what Jesus did for us. 1 Cor. 11:27-29
Jesus never lived His life that way instead He decided He had come to do only that which was the Father’s will. Heb. 10:7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, O God.’ ” He is the example we are to follow and the security we are to rest in when we get it wrong.
In all our thoughts, actions, every part of our character, the ruling principle that motivates and guides us should be the desire to follow Christ in doing the will of the Father.
This is the only path that leads us to the holiness God desires for us, while knowing that the security of our place in the family does not depend on our efforts but on Christ’s effort for us.
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Have you ever had someone come to you and tell you that someone else said you had done or said something that goes completely against your character? How do you respond to them?
I had someone come to me and tell me that they heard that I had said something against another person and it was very disturbing to them. My response was to ask them if I had ever given them any reason to believe, that in my character, I would do such a thing.
They thought for a minute and said “no”. You see character matters when it comes to the way we live and the things we do. If someone says we have done something that goes against our character would it not seem right to check it out before jumping to conclusions?
When it comes to God, His character, His attributes, makes all the difference in how we perceive Him and His actions. There is one attribute of God’s that amplifies all the others, His holiness. God would not be God if it were not for His holiness.
The holy character of God is what sets Him above all of mankind and it is what is supposed to set us above others outside of Christ as well. If we are a Christian, that is we have asked Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior, asking for forgiveness of our sins and placing Jesus as Lord over our lives, then we are called to be holy in character just as our God is holy in His. None of us gets a pass on this; every one of us believers is called to be holy as our God is holy. Character matters to God. Keeping up with the Jones’s. One of the problems we come to when we think about being holy is that we tend to compare ourselves to those around us; this is called a cultural holiness, keeping up with the spiritual Jones’. This is not at all what God desires, that we look like others, we are supposed to look like Him, conformed to the character of His holiness. What was that? “How in the world do we do that?” We do that by walking in obedience to His commands and His will for us. When we walk in obedience to God something begins to happen in us, we begin to be conformed to the image of God. Our whole being; soul, mind, affections and wills come into harmony with that of God’s. Rom. 12:1–2 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. When you think about God’s holiness what picture comes to mind? His holiness can best be described as His majesty, purity and moral perfection, all qualities of character because character matters. But, holiness is one of God’s attributes, the one that makes Him perfectly God. Holiness is as important as His existence because holiness makes all He does right and just.
Can we say that about ourselves? That we always know what is right and just? More often than not we agonize over these kinds of decisions. We ask, “Is this the right thing to do?” God never asks that question because He knows what is right and just, and because of His holiness He never hesitates to do it.
God’s holiness is perfect and because of that it is always free from evil intent. 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. Just as darkness can not exist in light so no evil can exist in God, He is the essence of moral purity. Character matters and because God is holy He always conforms to His own character. All His thoughts and actions are consistent with His holy character, unlike us, who so often falter in living a consistent holy life. We easily get caught up in unclean thoughts, bitterness, grumbling, vengeance and what ever else we struggle with. This never happens to God and because it does not He expects the same of us. This is why He says be holy as He is holy. There you go again, “How can I be holy like God is?” Sometimes we look at holiness as if it were a bad thing, it is not. Think about the benefits of God’s holiness; if God is perfectly holy than we can be comforted that His every action toward us will always be right, just and perfect. I know there are times when we question that and complain about the circumstances we are in. Often that is when the enemy or one of his minions comes charging in to tempt us to sin against God in some way, like Satan did with Eve. Gen. 3:4–5 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The one thing Eve forgot was that because of God’s holiness He can never be unfair to us, more often He is more merciful to us than we deserve, because He is holy in all His actions, including mercy. How do you feel when someone hurts you by complaining about you? The holiness of God is a faith issue for us to grapple with, that God is holy and because character matters He will only act toward us in what is right and just. When we complain against God saying He is unfair we are saying He is unholy. It would be less hurtful to Him if we just denied His existence rather than to doubt His character. To complain against God is to act wickedly, Job 40:1-14 Instead of complaining about God’s holiness we should be praising Him for it as Moses did. Ex. 15:11 “Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders? Even Jesus tells us to lift up God’s name as holy. Matt. 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, How many times have you read in the scriptures about God’s holy name? One scholar says that the prefix holy is used before God’s name more than any other attribute of God. If we were to think about the attributes of God without holiness attached to His character, He would cease to be God. It is His holiness more than anything else that makes Him worthy of praise. But God demands more of us than we just acknowledge His holiness. He commands us His children to be holy as He is holy because character matters. He rightfully demands perfect holiness in all His moral creatures. It is because of His perfect holiness that He does so. He can not ignore or approve of any evil committed by His people. Doing so would mean He lowered His standard, something He can not do because He is holy. Hab. 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. This also means He can not overlook or excuse away any sin we commit, no matter how small it may seem to us. To Him it is an offense. His holiness does not allow for our flaws or short comings, that is why we are told to make every effort to be holy. Heb. 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. Thank God for Jesus who paid for all those sins we hope God overlooks but does not.
Because character matters we are blessed by God’s holiness because He will never tempt us to sin. James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; There are times when we feel like we have no choice but to sin in some “small” way. Judges 3:4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses. But we always have a choice not to sin. 1 Cor. 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. When we fail to trust God and do what is right there will be consequences for it. Because God is holy He hates sin. Hate is the only word that truly depicts how God feels about sin. Zech. 8:17 do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the LORD. The more we grow in holiness the more we should and will hate sin as well. Psalm 119:104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. od is a holy God and hates sin more than we can imagine. We need to be careful not to be trifle with sin, excusing them away, when God hates them. We need to change our thinking about this; every time we sin we are doing something God hates. There is no peaceful coexistence with sin in our lives; sin is one thing God never ceases to hate. This is one of those things that we need to transform in our minds so we hate sin as much as God does. Gen. 39:9 How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”
Youth who complained that he could never get away with anything. When we live in peaceful coexistence with our sin we are asking for discipline from God over it. God is not partial to any person that He would overlook sin in our lives. VS 17. In fact He seems to judge the sin of His people harder than those who don’t know Him. Seem to be harder on our own. Why? Because we represent Him here. Heb. 12:4-12 The more we think about the holiness of God the more, hopefully, we will recognize our unholiness and take action to change it.
All of this should make us more grateful to Christ for His sacrifice so we could enjoy the grace from it to learn to live a holy life, the life God commands us to have. He says be holy because He is holy. Character matters, especially to God.
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Can you think of a time when you acted out completely against everything you believe and are? Maybe it was a time when the kids pressed your buttons enough for you to go off the deep end, leaving you screaming and ranting out of control. Maybe you had a person enter into your life that seemed to do all they could to be extremely annoying all the time and at some point you lost it with them and bit their head off.
When you did these things how did you feel? I can remember one time many years ago when we had foster teens that one of them threatened our family and I lost it. To me it felt like an out of body experience where I was watching someone else act out. That was the last foster teen we had.
All of us have times in our lives when we act out in ways that are so bad that we can’t believe we actually did that. We wonder why as Christians, we don’t have victory over some areas of our lives as we should. We study the scriptures searching for all we need to gain victory over these areas but often it seems like we never gain any headway in them. We read passages like Rom. 6:14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. and ask ourselves if this is really true because it does not seem to be working for me. Does the Bible really have the answers I need for my life?
Be assured, it does and there is hope. We can live the holy life we are called to as we walk in obedience to God and His word. In fact, God expects us to do so as we will see. Holiness is not just expected behavior for every Christian it is also the promised birth right for every believer. This being said the statement Paul makes is true, sin shall not be our master. 1 Pet. 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
But, what is holiness? What does it mean to you to be holy? For some it is a list of rules and regulations that seem outdated and unrealistic, especially in the world we live in today. Often when people think of holiness they see people walking around judging others for their unholiness, the holier than thou crowd. But God expects His children to live holy lives and this includes us. The word holy appears in its various forms in the Bible some 600 times. The book of Leviticus is dedicated to showing Israel how they can be holy before God. Lev. 11:44 I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.
But how can we be holy? When you think about holiness what picture comes to mind? Is it a list of dos and don’ts? Isn’t that what the Pharisees and teachers of the Law were condemned for? Luke 11:46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.
How do you feel about perfection? Is it obtainable for us and does it mean the same thing as being holy? When you think about perfection or holiness do you get discouraged because it seems so far off from us and our lives? Matt. 5:48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Do you know the definition and meaning of being holy”? It is to be morally blameless, separated from sin and consecrated to God, acting like the one we belong to.
Maybe the best way we can understand what holiness is would be by looking at how the NT writers use the term and concept of holiness. 1 Thess. 4:3-7 Paul uses holiness as a contrast to a life of immorality and impurity. 1 Pet. 1:13-16 Peter contrasts holiness to the lives we used to live where we did all we could to please our evil desires. Rev. 22:11 Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.” For John holiness is the contrast between those who do wrong and are vile, wicked, to those who strive to do right.
For us to live a holy life we need to conform to the principles of the Bible and live in contrast to the sinful ways of the world. This is what the passage we began with is focusing on, putting off our old way of living and put on the new. Eph. 4:22-24 The old self is characterized as being corrupted by its deceitful desires. Gal. 5:19–21Instead of living like this we are to put on the new self which looks like Christ, created to be like God, righteous and holy. Gal. 5:22–23 Holiness is basic to the Christian life. If this is so then why do we not experience it more in our daily lives? Why do so many Christians constantly feel defeated in their struggle with sin? Why does the church today look so much like the world around it instead of different from it?
There are 3 basic reasons why this is so: Our first problem is our attitude toward sin. It is more self-centered than God centered. We are more concerned about our victory over sin than we are about how our sin grieves God. Its all about me and not the one we hurt so badly. We are so success oriented that the battle is all about me and how I acted instead of about God and how offensive it is to Him. Only when we realize how offensive our sin is to God will there be a change of attitude toward it. David says, Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. The Prodigal son says, Luke 15:18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. When we realize how offensive our sin is to God we will take our eyes off ourselves focus on God and our relationship with Him.
How often have we read in the Bible if you love me, obey? God wants us to walk in obedience not in victory. Obedience is focused on God, victory is self-centered. Our self-centered attitude is the root of many of our struggles with sin. Until we face this attitude we will not be able to walk consistently in holiness. When we do, the by product will be victory over sin. Our second problem is we misunderstand what living by faith means. Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. There are many people who believe that it takes no effort to be holy, even so that they think if you expend any effort it is just a fleshly act, we are trying to do it ourselves. The problem with this is that the Bible no where says we don’t have to do anything to be holy in our living. Phil. 2:12–13 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. We must put forth the effort for us to make progress. Paul says as you have always obeyed, that is an action. Peter told us in 1 Pet. 1:13 to prepare for action, be self controlled and obedient. We have a personal responsibility for our walk in holiness. Only when we accept responsibility for our unholiness will we be able to take action to do something about it.
The third problem is that we do not always take sin seriously. We excuse it away as our humanness or we categorize our sins, some worse than others. The problem here is that every sin eats away at our holiness. Song of Solomon 2:15 Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. 1 Cor. 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? When we compromise with the little things they lead to greater downfalls. Sin is sin in God’s eyes. What it comes down to is the question, “will we be obedient to God or not?” Will we obey His commands or not? This is where Adam and Eve went off the track. They were manipulated into thinking they could eat from the one tree they were told not to eat from. They weighed it out and did not think it was such a big deal after all it was just a piece of fruit, so why not disobey God.
What it comes down to for us to consider, are we willing to call sin, sin? Not because it seems a little or big thing but because God forbids it? If we categorize sin then we will never live the holy life we are called to. And God will not let us get away with that either.
We will be studying these problems deeper as we go on in our series. For right now we need to consider these things in our lives and hearts and choose how we will respond to them. Will we look at our sin as an offense to God instead of a personal defeat? Will we take responsibility for our sin? Will we obey God in every aspect of our lives no matter how insignificant they seem? Are we willing to put forth the effort to live the holy life we are called to? Until we can answer these questions we will not be moving down the road to holiness but catching ourselves acting out wrongly.
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It is a special occasion for you and your spouse or you and a friend. You are going to go out to celebrate together.
The sitter has come to watch the kids and you are getting ready to head out the door. All the kids are there to say goodbye and you stop to say good night to them because you will be home late. What do you do just before you head out? You give the kids and the sitter some last minute instructions. Do this and don’t do that.
What are some of the things you would tell them? Some of the do’s and don’ts? It is amazing the things we come up with to pass along when we are just about to head out. Sometimes it feels like these things take longer than all the preparation to be ready for the special event.
Paul has just finished teaching these new believers about what is to come in the future in Christ for the believer and the non-believer. So we can imagine that the people’s heads were all focused on the eschatological future, but they need to be brought back down to the reality of what their responsibilities are now before God. Paul gives them a reality check with a few last minute instructions in order to help them get their heads back to the present and how they should be behaving now.
Vs 12-13 He begins by reminding them and us how a believer should treat those whom God has given spiritual responsibility to for the flock of believers under their care. These are probably elders of the church who work hard to provide spiritual leadership and care for the believers. 2:8-9 They most likely are men who have regular jobs along with the time they put into the care of the church.
Paul says they are over them in the Lord indicating their position of spiritual leadership in the church, responsible before God for those under their care. Heb. 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. The believers should respect the work that these people do and hold them in high regard because of the great responsibility they have taken on. This needs to be done with an attitude of love because of the loving service these folks provide for others. Do what the sitter tells you and don’t give them a hard time. Then Paul instructs them to live at peace with each other, this includes the spiritual leadership. They need to keep the peace between them doing the things they are supposed to and the things they are asked to do.
Vs 14-15 Everyone of them should consider themselves a minister to all the other believers in the body. This means there will be times when we need to say some hard things to others, like warning them not to be idle, doing nothing, neglecting the things that need to be done inside and outside the church.
We need to encourage those who are timid, folks who seem to get discouraged easily and need cheering up and encouragement, helping them to keep on keeping on in the Lord, in their walk with Christ. Help you little brother and sister. Then don’t forget about the weak who need help of all kinds. They have not yet learned to lean on the Lord for all their needs both physical and spiritual. They need to be supported and given examples of how to live by faith in Christ. Hebrews 10:23-25 The only way we can do these things well is by being patient with each other, understanding that each of us is trying to figure out how we are to live in the Lord. Those of us who are farther along in the faith than we should be patient with those who are not. Phil. 2:12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, The opposite of patience with others is retaliation of some kind. He hit me so I hit him back! We as believers do not have the option in the Lord to retaliate, to get revenge, no matter how badly we have been hurt by another. Romans 12:17-21 Instead of looking for ways to retaliate we should be kind to each other. Remember what God has done for us in Christ. Matt. 6:14–15 For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. How can we do this when at times we are hurt so badly by others? That is what vs 24-25 are all about, God will give us what we need to be able to move on without retaliation but with kindness.
Vs 16-18 Paul has told the believers in Thessalonica how to live with each other, inter personal relationships, but what about our personal lives? How should we live daily, what should our attitude be? Reminding the kids about their personal attitude that night. He tells us, be joyful always. We can do this by remembering all God has done for us and how much He loves us. Our joy doesn’t come from our circumstances but from the blessings we have in Christ. We have the power of God at work in our lives, forgiveness of sins, God working in us so to glorify Himself. We are never alone because He is always with us no matter where we are. You can call your friend and talk with them. If we find ourselves loosing our joy then we need to pray. If we stay in touch with God throughout the day we will be able to keep our eyes on Him and who He is and all He has done for us; speaking to Him in the quiet moments or just in our hearts like we would a dear friend. That is how we should spend our time rejoicing in prayer, lifting our concerns before our God. Then to deal with our circumstances give thanks in all of them because God is working something out. Rom. 8:28–29 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. We know that God is doing something either in us or for His glory through our circumstances. Suffer for our own good, for the glory of God or as a witness to someone else. Rejoice in that, pray through it and give thanks in it because we are walking in the will of God at that very moment.
Vs 19-22 Now we know what we are supposed to be doing but what about the things we are not supposed to do? Do not disobey the sitter. When the Holy Spirit is speaking to us we need to be paying attention and doing what we are told to do. Not put out His fire by being disobedient, resisting His leading. One way we do this is by poo pooing away the prophetic. God has shown us some wonderful things in His word that are yet to come. We should hold them in high regard instead of disbelieving them.
There will also be times when someone comes and says they have a word from the Lord for us, that it is “Gospel truth”. It is our responsibility to check it out in accordance with God’s word. If it goes against God’s word then disregard it but if it is in line with God’s word then move cautiously forward in it. Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Don’t be afraid to check it out with other believers. 1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Proverbs 27:9 Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his earnest counsel. So we should not take what is evil, bad, and run with it but hold onto the good, which is what is right in the eyes of the Lord. We should not participate in anything that is evil but avoid it. This can be tricky because this may include things that are offensive to others but no to us or to God. It is their conscience that is offended not ours. 1 Cor. 8:9-13 Romans 14 is another good chapter to study on this for more insight. But I found a quote that might be helpful by a theologian Heibert; “while believers should abstain from actions which will knowingly offend others, it is not always possible to abstain from everything which may appear evil to a narrow and foolish judgment.”
Vs 23-25 Wow, think about all the things we have just covered! All these things we are responsible for before the Lord, it can seem overwhelming. The sitter will help you with your homework. God is a God of peace. He does not want us all twisted up with worry about what we are supposed to be doing. He will be our source of strength so we can accomplish the things we are supposed to be doing. All of these things are part of the sanctifying process He has for us to make us more like Jesus. If we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, being obedient to His leading, we will be blameless, free from accusation of wrongdoing. We will be right with God first and foremost and other believers will see our progress and be encouraged. He does not call us to be His children and then leave us to figure it out all by ourselves. He works with us to become all He wants us to be. Phil. 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Vs 25-28 Don’t forget to wash the dishes and clean up your toys. These are things that Paul wants to remind them to do regularly. Don’t forget to pray for those whose work is getting the Gospel out to others and those who are training up the believers. Make sure everyone knows that he sends his love to them in whatever way is customary. In their culture the men kissed the men on the cheek and the women kissed the women. We shake hands or give hugs.
Then make sure to share the word of God with others. In fact Paul puts them under oath to do so. 2 Tim. 4:2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
Lastly; don’t forget that none of this can be accomplished without the grace of God given to us in Christ Jesus for it is through Him that we have forgiveness of sin and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, our helper and guide. In the strength of the Lord nothing is impossible for us.
Benediction: 1 Peter 3:8–9 Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.