Dr. Ben Stubblefield
Visiting Assistant Professor of Christian Studies, University of Mobile
Demonstrated
1 Thessalonians 4:1–12
We found the devil mask in my dad’s closet. It brought back a lot of memories. He would wear it to Sunday School occasionally to do a lesson called, “When the devil comes to church.” He’d answer the teacher’s questions with the right answers, get the class to pray for one of his friends, then ask everybody if it was OK for him to be an official member of the class and church that were filled with “such fine people.”
His point was that we shouldn’t be doing church in a way that the devil could fit right in. What makes us so different from the devil isn’t that we believe different things. We don’t (James 2:19). The difference is that we live, follow and demonstrate our commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Paul here begins to turn his attention toward orthopraxis, right living, in the Thessalonian church, because the call to follow the Lord isn’t just a call to think right; the call is also a call to live right.
Pleasing (1–2)
The letter shifts gears at this point from friendly reflections in chapters 1–3 to moral exhortation in chapters 4–5. And Paul begins by reminding them of their daily conduct, their walk in the Lord. This is because Christianity isn’t just an intellectual pursuit. It is a hands-on religion, which commands intentional living to align with a right knowledge of God.
Paul also makes the effort to link his instruction with the authority of God. He did not presume to command the Thessalonians from his own authority but understood himself to represent the King. Paul is giving us the cue we will do well to remember: We take our counsel from the authoritative word of the Most High, always and before we look to the wisdom of men.
Holy (3–8)
Paul doesn’t pull any punches. The church has got to get its sex life under control. Sexual ethics have a prominent place in Paul’s literature because, in the Gentile world then, sexual fidelity would have sounded absurd.
Paul says God gave them their vessel (body) for purity, honor and sanctification. Indeed, he indicates that to misuse the body outside of God’s sexual design is tantamount to an outright denial of God.
We don’t live in first century Rome, but we do live in 21st century Babylon, and we are more and more out of step with the prevailing culture. The church is in a strange but familiar place because the integrity of our position on sexual fidelity is getting put under intense pressure. As it did in Paul’s day, our sexual fidelity is making us a peculiar people.
Daily (9–12)
In the final section, Paul reminds the Thessalonians that the way they live has an impact on their reputation beyond the church community.
Though we have to do a fair bit of reading between the lines, it appears there were some in the church who were not earning a living, instead existing off of the largesse of other members and even unbelieving neighbors. Paul applauds generosity in verses 10–11 but admonishes the unemployed to take care of themselves.
Southern Baptists have a missions DNA. But we sometimes see the Matthew 28:18–20 Great Commission commitment a bit too narrowly. Our missional life is networked to faithful living.
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