We Beseech You, Continued

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Walk in Light

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"Understanding" is the theme of these verses and they expound on "knowledge verses ignorance". There are three phrases or statements that are here made by Paul in these verses that need careful consideration.

1. "Times and Seasons." This phrase appears three times in the Bible. Each time it refers to God's plans. We find, in each of these three cases that these plans become known only thru divine revelation.
   1. In Daniel 2, God gave Daniel understanding of the king's dreams.
   2. In Acts Jesus refers to the plans of God for Israel.
   3. Here, in First Thessalonians 5, Paul refers to God's plan concerning the Second Coming. "As to the times and seasons brethren, you have no need to have anything written you"... (about the Day of the Lord)
2. "The Day of the Lord." The word "day" in the Bible can mean any time when any ordained event will take place according to God's plan. Here the event is the Second Coming of the Lord.
3. "Like a thief in the night." Here Paul attempts to describe the suddenness of His coming and the fact that it will occur at a time when it will not be expected, when people will be thinking that there is peace and security.

Notice what will happen at that time. "Sudden destruction will come and there will be no escape." Paul explains more about this in Second Thessalonians. "Sudden destruction" for those who know not Christ, but for the believers, Paul says, "You are not in darkness, the day will not surprise you like a thief, for you are all sons of light." The believers have this knowledge, the un-believers do not. "Knowledge verses ignorance".

So the saved will be living in expectancy but the lost will be surprised. They will be enjoying a time of peace and security. Noah preached for 60 years, telling the lost of the coming doom, but times were good, people felt secure, and no one believed him. The flood came like a thief in the night. Like it was in Noah's day, there will be scoffers, walking in their own lusts, laughing as they taunt the believers, saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?" They to will be surprised when He comes.

What does it mean to be "living in expectancy" as sons of light? It does not mean that we are to put on a white sheet and set upon a mountaintop. It means that we are to live with eternal values in mind not the immediate pleasures of the time. There is a difference between being ready for Heaven and being ready to meet the Lord. We all, who are believers, claim the gift of a place in Heaven, but are we all ready to face the judgment seat of the Lord? All the sin in our lives will be made known on the Day of the Lord. Even our works will be tried. Paul encourages us to live in such a way that we will enjoy that day and sincerely look forward to being with the Lord.

Live expectantly and you won't be surprised when He comes. So what more does that mean? Verses 6 thru 8 say we should keep our minds alert, sober, not drunk, awake, not asleep. The term "sober" means to have your eyes open, sound of mind, steady in the Lord and awake and alert. Paul compares soberness to daylight and complacency to darkness. He suggests that it is time to "Wake up", "clean up" and "dress up". Put on the "breast plate of faith", the "helmet of salvation" and the "armor of light".

As "sober minded" believers, Paul says that we should be calm and have a sane outlook on life, not be complacent, frustrated or afraid. We must be able to hear tragic news and not loose heart, experience difficulties in life and not give up and see insecurity all around but know that there is security in God. The unsaved cannot do this.

Verses 9 thru 11 deals with salvation versus judgment. Believers will not face the judgment of their souls but our works will be judged and perhaps even destroyed as by fire, but we ourselves will be saved, for Paul says in verse 9, "God has not destined us for wrath." Paul is here talking about the Tribulation, the 1,000 years following the Second Coming of the Lord. God has not destined us to be a part of that Tribulation, for weather we are alive or dead at his coming, we will be caught up to be with Him.

The Tribulation is a time of persecution, a time when God will judge the un-believing Gentile and purge Israel and prepare her for the establishment of His Kingdom here on earth. We have the promise of His "imminent" return. The word "imminent" means that it is ready to happen. In reality, all the plans that need to be made have been made. Nothing is left to be done accept the "calling" out of the last person to complete the Body of Christ.

Many Bible scholars believe that the Seven Churches in Revelation illustrate the 7 periods between the first Coming and the Second Coming of Christ and the formation of His Church, the Body of believers. For instance, Ephesus, the first to be written about, describes the church of the Apostles, the early Christian Church, AD 33 to AD 100. Smyrna would be the church of the persecuted area, AD 100 to AD 323. Thus the last church written about, Laodicea, would be the church of the "last days" , described as being neither hot nor cold.

Paul sums up these four comparisons, knowledge versus ignorance, expectancy versus surprise, awake versus asleep and salvation verses lost, by encouraging them to help one another, encourage and build up each other. All of this he calls "Walking in the Light".

Walk in Gratitude

Wiersbe calls these two verses Christian Family Leadership. He suggests that leadership is needed in all human groups. Without leadership, families fall apart, nations crumble and churches become unproductive. It is also true that God gives different gifts to different people and Paul says here that we are to "respect" them.

Notice the responsibility that we have to our church leaders. First, we must accept them. They are ordained by the Lord and the church and get their authority from the Lord. Secondly, we are to appreciate them. We must appreciate the burden that they carry. Thirdly, we are to love them. In Heb. 13:17, the author says that we are to obey and submit ourselves to them. This is not always easy, but Paul doesn't give us any choice, we are to accept them, appreciate them, love them and obey them, in spite of any spiritual weaknesses that they might have. They are God's appointed leaders and should be treated with respect.

It is the office, not the person, that is due this respect. This will bring peace and harmony to the church. Wiersbe says that divisions and dissensions within the church almost always is caused by rebelling against leadership. "Respect, esteem them highly, because of their work."

Walk in Obedience

The last of Paul's instructions to the Thessalonians was to walk in obedience. Obedience to God touches upon all areas of our lives. There are 13 areas that Paul tells all Christians in which they should be obedient. Five covers our attitude toward others and eight on our attitude toward God.

In the area of our obedience toward others, Paul lists five groups of people and tells us what our attitude should be toward them.

1. The idle. Paul says that we should admonish the idle. The King James says that we should warn the unruly. Williams calls them shirkers, Beck calls them the disorderly and the Living Bible calls them the lazy. This should give you an idea of how hard it is to translate Greek into English. In every society there are those who are idle because they are lazy. They inevitably, sooner or later, will become disorderly and unruly. Paul says that as Christians, we are to warn these people. They should be told plainly and without reservation, the harm that they are doing to themselves and to others.
2. The faint hearted. The King James calls them the feeble-minded. Beck calls them the discouraged and the Living Bible calls them the frightened. We can discount the King James and see that Paul is speaking of the frightened and the discouraged. He tells us that we should encourage these people. Who, among us, has not, at some time, been discouraged and frightened? Who helped you? If we are obedient to God, we will help those people, encourage and calm their fears as God gives us the ability to do that.
3. The weak. Most translations call these people "the weak". Who is a weak person? Someone who is not able to bear up under pressure. Someone who cannot bear a heavy burden, or maybe they are easily led to do evil or one who gets caught up in bad habits. Could be any of us when you get down to it. Paul says that in obedience to God, we should help that person, not condemn them but help them bear the load.
4. The impatient. Again most translations call them the "impatient". It would then appear that patient people are obedient to God's will. What's wrong with being impatient? We sometimes hurt people, their feelings or even physically. Speedy decisions are often wrong and not well though out. Our job is to be patient with these people and try to show them what they are doing to themselves and to others.
5. The evil person. Do not return evil for evil but rather do good to one who does evil to you and by doing this, we gain God's forgiveness, our own self respect and often melt the unforgiving heart. Do we do this, or do we seek revenge?

The Paul encourages us to be obedient in eight other areas of our lives, in our relationship to God.

1. Rejoice always. Being in a "good mood" all the time is not easy. We are to phrase God and rejoice regardless of the situation that we find ourselves in. Good times and bad times, feast or famine, rich or poor, in sickness or health. That's a big order.
2. Pray continually. Is that once a day, once a week, once a month, when we are called upon or just a mealtime? Matthew Henry says "It is not that we should do nothing else but pray, but that we not allow anything to hinder us from prayer." Prayer should be as natural as eating or sleeping and as much a part of our life. Prayer is the source of all strength. It is a direct line to the most powerful source in the universe. Most of us have not begin to tap that power.
3. Give thanks. We often center our prayers around our concerns for our selves and others, without going back and thanking the Lord for the multitude of prayers that He had already answered. In all areas of our lives we need to give thanks, for God is at work protecting and enriching every area of our lives. Most of the credit that we give to our selves and too others who we believe have been kind to us, should go to the Lord.
4. Do not "quench" the Spirit. We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, thus we have a source of spiritual leading that will always lead us in the right way and in the making of the right decisions. Paul says that we are aware of this and should not "quench" that leading even if He is leading us to do something that we would rather not do. Paul experienced this when he was on his way into Asia Minor and the Spirit called him to go into Macedonia. The Spirit is a fire within us. Sin is like water poured upon fire. It quenches it. While sin will quench that fire, prayer, Bible study, witnessing and worship will fuel the Spirit.
5. Do not despise prophecy. This is the preaching of the Word. Paul was led of the Spirit to preach in person and to witness in writing. We must believe that our ministers as called of God and led of the Spirit to preach. We must accept what they say, but examine the scriptures like the Bereans to see if what they say is true. We must encourage and support them in their effort to live in obedience to God.
6. Test everything. This carries over from the one above. Paul respected the Bereans because they went home and read the scriptures to see if what he said was true. Yes we are to respect our ministers and our teachers but everything should be tested. Seek the truth for your self. This is being obedient to God.
7. Hold fast. It is easy to back slide. Slip in our attendance, become complacent in our prayer life, visitation, Bible study, and our concern for others. Satan has a lot of things that he dangles before us like the fruit of a tree before Eve. You can become so busy with worldly things that you no longer have time for the Lord. Bad habits are easy to make but hard to break. In obedience to God, hold fast to those spiritual areas in your life.
8. Obedience to God. Keep the above seven and you will be obedient to God. Paul says that we should abstain from evil even the appearance of evil. Paul writes in I Cor. 6:12, "All things are lawful for me but not all things are helpful." "Take care less this liberty somehow become a stumbling block to the weak." Eating food that had been offered to idols was not wrong in the eyes of God, but, to some weak Christians it became an offence. Therefore Paul says, "Don't do it for your brothers sake."

Paul ends this letter with a benediction. "May the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly and may your spirit, soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here Paul prays for these people that they might be sanctified. This is "spiritual growth" that Paul is asking for. He also asks for their preservation, their spirit, body and soul. This is promised to those who are in Christ. As Calvinists, we believe in the "Perseverance of the Saints", we believe in His promise that He will present us faultlessly, without blemish.

Continuing with Paul's benediction, "May the God of peace sanctify you wholly." I believe that Paul was being diplomatic in suggesting that without peace in the church at Thessalonica, further gifts would be difficult to obtain. God does not bless a troublesome church, but peace among the brethren will bring spiritual growth or sanctification. So where peace abounds, growth abounds. A peaceful attitude is necessary to maintain a sound body and a blameless soul. This is the very purpose of sanctification.

This was Paul's prayer for the people of Thessalonica. Paul was sure that God would answer his prayer. Verse 24, "He who calls you is faithful and he will do it." The "faithfulness" of God is our security. He has promised to preserve us to the end, He will accomplish the good work that He has started in us.

Then Paul requests their prayers for himself and for Silas and Timothy. "Brethren, pray for us." People should pray for each other, especially for their minister. Matthew Henry says emphatically, the more people pray for their minister, the more God will lead them. Paul was ill, he had suffered much at the hands of the Jews, physically and spiritually. He surly needed their prayers.

Paul ends the letter with this salutation, "Greet all the brethren with a 'holy kiss'." There are 16 gestures mentioned in the Bible, dancing, expressions with the eyes, facial expressions, hand movements, head movements, kneeling, laughing, renting of garments, shaking of dust from the feet, shouting, spitting, weeping, standing, sitting, bowing and kissing. The "holy kiss" was a gesture of trust and mutual love. It later was discontinued because of diseases that was being transmitter by converts.

Paul charges them to "Read this letter to all the brethren." This was a charge from the Lord to spread the Word. This is why we have Sunday School and Bible study. This is why the Bible is translated in all languages and updated as word usage changes.

The last part of the letter is the benediction. "The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you." Paul knew that this was all that they needed to make them happy, to fulfill their needs and to bring them safely to the completion of their lives. There was and still is, Grace sufficient for all their needs, the gift of God through Jesus Christ.

THUS ENDS THE BOOK OF FIRST THESSALONIANS

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