Writing is one of the best ways to learn. In class, we take notes and write papers, and all these methods are used to help us learn and retain the material. The same is true with the Word of God. Obviously, all of the authors of Scripture were writers. This helped them better learn the Scriptures and also enabled them to more effectively teach it. In studying God’s Word with the Bible Teacher’s Guide, take time to write so you can similarly grow both in your learning and teaching.

1. How would you summarize the main points of the text/chapter? Write a brief summary.
2. What stood out to you most in the reading? Did any of the contents trigger any memories or experiences? If so, please share them.
3. What follow–up questions did you have about the reading? What parts did you not fully agree with?
4. What applications did you take from the reading, and how do you plan to implement them into your life?
5. Write several commitment statements: As a result of my time studying God’s Word, I will . . .
6. What are some practical ways to pray as a result of studying the text? Spend some time ministering to the Lord through prayer.

October 9, 2016

Most of us have had trouble at times discerning the will of God. At those times, we’ve wished that God would just speak audibly, “My will is that you take the job that you’ve been offered.” Or, “My will is that you marry Suzy.” “Okay, God, I’ve got it!”

In our text, God plainly states His will for each of us in one important matter (1 Thess. 4:3): “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.” There is no ambiguity in that: God wants you to be morally pure. He doesn’t command moral purity to deprive you of fun, but rather to increase your ultimate pleasure in Him. At His right hand are pleasures forever (Ps. 16:11). He designed the sexual relationship in marriage for our pleasure in Him. So, any violation of moral purity goes against God’s good and perfect will for your life. Any form of sexual immorality will hurt God’s name, hurt you, and hurt others. As the one who created sex, God tells us in His word both how sex can bless us and how it can harm us. His clearly stated will is that we abstain from sexual immorality.

But it’s safe to say that we live in a world where sexual temptation is more readily accessible than at any other time in history. When I was a young man, it wasn’t nearly as easy to view pornography as it is now. Then, you had to deliberately search it out, often in sleazy stores where you wouldn’t want to be caught dead. Now, it just takes a few clicks on your smartphone.

In 1988, before the internet or smartphones existed, Leadership journal (Winter, 1988, p. 24) did a survey on sex and the American clergy. Of the pastors responding to the survey, 20 percent said that they looked at sexually oriented print, video, or movies at least once a month! And 38 percent of these pastors said they find themselves fantasizing about sex with someone other than their spouse at least once a month.

The same survey found that 12 percent of pastors admitted to committing adultery since entering local church ministry! Leadership asked the same questions of readers of Christianity Today magazine who were not pastors. The incidences of immorality were nearly double, with 23 percent admitting to extramarital sex (p. 12)!

More than a decade ago, Al Mohler wrote (cited without reference by Ligon Duncan in a sermon on Eph. 5:3, June 4, 2006, at: fpcjackson.org/resources/sermons/Ephesians):

The statistics are truly frightening. According to industry studies, 70% percent of 18-24 year old men visit pornographic sites in a typical month. These young men represent something like one-fourth of all visitors to pornographic sites on the internet. The next largest group of users are young men in their 20’s and 30’s, 66% of whom report being regular users of pornography….

Today the average teenage boy is likely to have seen thousands of explicit sexual images, ranging across the spectrum of sexualities and perversions. Many of these boys and young men are driven by sexual fantasies that previous generations of young men would not have even known existed…. Today Americans rent more than 800 million pornographic videos and DVD’s every year. About 20% of all video rentals are pornographic. At least 11,000 pornographic videos are produced annually, amounting to revenue for the adult film industry estimated at between 5 and 10 billion dollars a year.

Of course, with the invention of the smartphone, those statistics are probably not nearly as high as they would be now. And if you think that Christian men are exempt from this temptation, you’re not in touch with reality. It is a huge problem in the evangelical church! And I’ve read that the problem exists among Christian women, also. So, as the Apollo 13 astronauts famously said, “Houston, we’ve got a problem!”

But, so did the Thessalonians. Granted, they didn’t have cell phones and the internet to tempt them. But they did live in a sexually promiscuous culture, where the goddess Aphrodite, who was among the most popular deities in Thessalonica, was the symbol of sexual license and the patroness of prostitutes (Gene L. Green, The Letters to the Thessalonians [Eerdmans/Apollos], p. 35). Men could go to pagan temples and commit immorality with priestesses as an act of religious devotion. Various forms of extramarital sex were tolerated and even encouraged. F. F. Bruce (Word Biblical Commentary, 1 & 2 Thessalonians [Thomas Nelson], p. 82) writes,

A man might have a mistress who could provide him also with intellectual companionship; the institution of slavery made it easy for him to have a concubine, while casual gratification was readily available from a harlot. The function of his wife was to manage his household and be the mother of his legitimate children and heirs.

So Paul’s commandments for sexual purity were as countercultural in that day as they are in ours. His message is crystal clear:

God’s will is for His people to be sexually pure by knowing Him and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

1. God’s will is for His people to be sexually pure or holy.

We saw in verses 1 & 2 that as believers, we are under obligation to walk and please God by obeying His commandments. Now, Paul specifically zeroes in on the need for sexual purity or holiness:

A. Holiness means to be set apart unto God, who called us out of darkness into His light.

“Sanctification” (NASB) means “holiness.” To be holy is to be set apart from this evil world unto God. Paul repeats the word three times in our text for emphasis (verses 3, 4, & 7). In verse 7, Paul links sanctification with our salvation: “For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.” God’s calling refers to His effectual call to salvation. He took the initiative to rescue us from His judgment and wrath by sending His own Son to bear the penalty that we deserve. But now, having been bought by the precious blood of Jesus, God commands us to be holy, even as He is holy (1 Pet. 1:14-16).

The Bible uses “sanctification” or “sanctify” in three senses: First, there is positional sanctification. Every believer is set apart in Christ (1 Cor. 1:2; 6:11; Heb. 10:14). Second, there is progressive sanctification, the process by which we become holy in all our behavior (1 Pet. 1:14-15). Third, someday we all will achieve perfect sanctification, when Jesus returns and we will be like Him, with all traces of sin removed (1 John 3:1-3).

Dr. Ryrie used to illustrate this by a little girl with a lollipop. She wants it all for herself, but she sees her friend coming and is afraid that she will have to give it to her. So, she licks it all over. Now it is “positionally sanctified.” It belongs totally to her. Then she begins appropriating that lollipop for herself as she progressively licks it. Finally, it will be totally “conformed” to her, when she finishes it. In our text, verse 7 may be referring to our positional sanctification. God has called us in the sphere of sanctification, or holiness. But in verses 3 & 4, Paul is referring to our growth in holiness, which as we saw last time, comes from walking daily with the Lord. Specifically, here Paul focuses on sexual purity:

B. Holiness means abstaining from sexual immorality.

The Greek word (porneia) refers to any kind of sexual relation outside of heterosexual marriage. This includes sex before marriage, adultery, homosexuality, incest, prostitution, or bestiality (Green, p. 190; cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-11; 1 Tim. 1:9-11). Paul is not calling us to moderation of our sexual impulses, but to total abstinence outside of the marriage bond. As he wrote (Eph. 5:3-5):

But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

As Jesus made clear, sexual immorality begins on the heart or thought level. To look on a woman with lust is to commit adultery with her in your heart (Matt. 5:27). He also said (Mark 7:21-23),

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.

So to win the battle for sexual purity, you must control your thought life, which requires controlling what goes into your mind. You cannot look at sensuous movies or TV shows or internet content and be morally pure. You can’t avoid looking at all the sensuously dressed women who parade around in our culture, but you can avoid the second look. And, you can immediately redirect your thoughts by following Romans 13:14: “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” But, to do that requires control:

C. Holiness in the sexual realm requires self-control.

In verses 4 & 5, Paul explains what he means by abstaining from sexual immorality: “that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God.” The problem is, Paul’s explanation is not exactly clear! There are two main views:

Some argue that “possess his own vessel” should be translated, “acquire his own vessel,” where “vessel” refers to a wife. Many godly Bible scholars hold to this view. The Greek verb as used elsewhere in the New Testament means “to acquire,” not to “possess” or “control.” This would line up with 1 Corinthians 7:9, where Paul teaches that if you lack self-control, you should marry rather than burn with lust. When Paul says that a Christian should “possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion,” he means that rather than basing marriage primarily on sexual attraction, as we often see in the Hollywood crowd, there should be a sanctity about the married relationship. It portrays the exclusive love that exists between Christ and His church (Eph. 5:22-33). Thus marriage should be held in honor and the marriage bed should be undefiled (Heb. 13:4; 1 Pet. 3:7).

The second view is that “vessel” refers to a person’s body and that “possess” has the meaning of “controlling, gaining mastery over, or keeping.” The verb can have that nuance (G. K. Beale, 1-2 Thessalonians [IVP Academic], p. 117). Paul’s other uses of “vessel” refer to persons or their bodies (e.g. Rom. 9:21-22; 2 Cor. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:21). So Paul was exhorting not only the men (as the first view would imply), but both men and women to control their bodies by restricting sexual activity to one’s marriage partner (1 Cor. 6:15-7:9). I lean toward this view.

But both views require self-control in the sexual realm and Paul taught both views elsewhere. God gave heterosexual marriage as the legitimate place for sexual relations. And, whether single or married, both men and women need to control sexual lust, beginning on the thought level. We must guard our thought life and put a huge fence around our marriages as sacred. You may think that no one knows what you’re thinking or looking at, and that as long as you don’t get physically involved with a woman or man who is not your spouse, no one will get hurt. But that’s fallacious on two counts: First, God knows your heart and you can’t be close to Him while you’re entertaining sinful lust. Second, looking at porn or looking lustfully at women is like tolerating cracks in a dam beneath the water level. No one can see them but if they’re not fixed, eventually the dam will collapse and there will be a lot of damage. That leads to the second point:

2. Sexual sin among God’s people always causes damage.

A. Sexual sin hurts God’s name.

God is holy and He is identified with His people. When pro­fessing Christians engage in sexual immorality, it drags God’s holy name through the mud in the eyes of the watching world. This is especially true when Christian leaders are caught in sin. The world mocks and shrugs off the claims of the gospel as a joke. It gives occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme (2 Sam. 12:14).

B. Sexual sin hurts the sinner himself.

Contrary to what is often said, all sin is not the same. Paul says that the immoral man sins against his own body (1 Cor. 6:18). Those who engage in homosexual sin, whether men or women, dishonor their bodies and “receive in their own persons the due penalty of their error” (Rom. 1:24-27). God’s moral laws are like the traffic laws: you can disobey them for a while and perhaps get where you want to go faster. But sooner or later, you’ll come around a curve too fast, hit a pole, and suffer the consequences. God’s laws are designed by the wise Creator to protect us.

C. Sexual sin hurts many others.

This is probably what Paul means when he says (1 Thess. 4:6), “and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter….” To have sexual relations with another man’s wife or another woman’s husband is to transgress against the innocent spouse and defraud him or her. To violate an unmarried woman is to hurt her and to defraud her future husband of her virginity. Implicit in the word “defraud” (related to the word for “greed”) is that sexual sin is inherently selfish. You’re taking advantage of the other person for your own pleasure or benefit. You may rationalize it by saying that it was by mutual agreement and for mutual pleasure. But you’re deceiving yourself. If you have children or grandchildren, your sexual sin hurts them by robbing them of your godly example. It hurts other church members by damaging the reputation of Christians in the community. As David’s sin with Bathsheba shows, he paid an awful price with his family and with his kingdom for a night of sinful pleasure. But Paul ups the ante:

3. God will bring judgment on those who are sexually impure.

Paul adds (1 Thess. 4:6b), “because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.” Then in verse 8, he adds the warning, “So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.” This reminds me of the severe warning in Hebrews 10:26-31:

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hebrews 13:4 also warns, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Perhaps you’re wondering, “I thought that Christians were totally forgiven. I thought that we were under grace. But that doesn’t sound very gracious!”

If a genuine Christian falls into these sins and repents, God will forgive his sin, but He may not remove the consequences (as with David’s sin). But if someone professes to be a Christian, but habitually engages in sexual immorality, he may be deceived in calling himself a Christian. The Bible repeatedly warns that the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-6). These strong warnings show that true Christians are susceptible to sexual immorality. But, true Christians will be miserable when they sin and cannot continue in sin (1 John 3:9). To reject God’s clear warnings indicates that the person does not truly know Him. So, how, then can a Christian be sexually pure?

4. To be sexually pure, you must know God and walk by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit.

More could be added for a comprehensive strategy against sexual sin, but here Paul mentions these two things:

A. To be sexually pure, you must know God.

Paul contrasts Christian sexual purity with “the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thess. 4:5). To be a true Christian means that you have come to know God through Jesus Christ (John 17:3; Gal. 4:9). In 2 Thessalonians 1:8, Paul says that when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, He will deal “out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” In Romans 1, those whom God gives over to suffer the consequences of their sin knew about God, since His attributes are evident through creation, but they suppress the truth in unrighteousness and do not honor God as God or give thanks. He goes on to add (Rom. 3:18), “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” If we truly know God, we fear Him, hate evil, and turn away from sin (Job 28:28; Ps. 97:10; Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 9:10).

B. To be sexually pure, you must walk by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit.

Paul mentions (v. 8) in passing (indicating that he also taught them this truth) that God “gives His Holy Spirit to you.” He uses a Greek construction that emphasizes “Holy” (literally, “His Spirit, the Holy One”). In Galatians 5:16, Paul writes, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” He goes on to enumerate some of those sinful desires, which include immorality, impurity, and sensuality. He adds that one fruit of the Holy Spirit is self-control. So a daily step-by-step walk of dependence on the indwelling Holy Spirit is the key to resisting sexual temptation and developing sexual purity.

There are several aspects of this to keep in mind: First, the Holy Spirit is a gracious, undeserved gift. When you think about the fact that you deserved God’s judgment, but He chose you and called you to salvation and gave you His Holy Spirit to live in you, it will make you hate your sin and turn from it.

Second, the Holy Spirit is holy! As the eternal third person of the trinity, He is the one of whom the angels cover their faces in His presence as they say (Isa. 6:3), “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” He is light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). His eyes are too pure to approve evil (Hab. 1:13). Peter exhorts (1 Pet. 1:14-16), “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’”

Third, this Holy Spirit dwells in you. If you think about that when you’re tempted to click on that porn site or entertain lustful thoughts about a woman, you would immediately cut off your hand or pluck out your eye (Matt. 5:27-30). As David Powlison wrote (Sex and the Supremacy of Christ [Crossway], ed. by John Piper & Justin Taylor, p. 105), “The only way you ever sin is by suppressing God, by forgetting, by tuning out his voice, switching channels, and listening to other voices.”

Fourth, remember that your sin grieves the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). “Grieve” is an emotional love-word. When you sin against someone who loves you, that person grieves. To sin against the Holy Spirit who sealed you for the day of redemption is to grieve the God who gave His Son to save you.

Conclusion

So if you know the Lord, His clearly stated will is for you to be sexually pure by the power of His Holy Spirit. If you are defeated by sexual sin, take whatever radical measures are necessary to get on the path to sexual purity. As John Owen put it (The Works of John Owen, Vol. 6, “Temptation and Sin” [Banner of Truth], p. 9), “Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”

Application Questions

1. Some professing Christians argue that the Bible permits committed, loving homosexual relationships. To deny them this would mean that they cannot fulfill their sexual desires. How would you counter this with Scripture?
2. Some Christians justify going to R-rated movies by saying, “I need to understand where our culture is at.” Your response?
3. Some argue that genuine Christians may fall into habitual immorality and that the consequence is, they lose their rewards, but they’re still saved. How would you counter this biblically?
4. How would you counsel a professing Christian who said, “Help, I’m addicted to pornography?”

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2016, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Editor’s Note: This is a lightly edited transcription of the audio message. Thanks goes to Marilyn Fine for the transcription work.

Introduction

This week, as you know if you have been attending the services, I have been trying to get you excited about the Rapture of the Church. Of course, one of the important elements of that is to persuade you that the Bible teaches that Christ could come very soon. I want to review this just a bit. Then, I want to turn to the Book of Revelation to see what the Rapture has to do with the Second Coming. Finally with the time left we will have some questions and answers.

Review On The Coming Of Christ

Now, what have I been teaching you? First of all, I pointed out that the Rapture, wherever it is located in the Bible in the New Testament, always speaks of it as the next event. There is nothing preceding it. This is quite in contrast to the Second Coming of Christ to the earth where there are all kinds of important and world-shaking events that precede. The Rapture – never. It is always presented that we should be “looking for that blessed hope” (according to Titus) not for some preceding event.

Then, we also examined I Thessalonians 4 and 5 and we found that when the Rapture occurs, the Day of the Lord begins and the Day of Grace, such as we have in our present dispensation, ends. People will still get saved, but this is a time of divine judgment on a world that has rejected Christ and eventually recognizes the antichrist as their god and as their savior. God is going to pour out the terrible judgments that the Bible describes.

Then, we saw also how the false teachers came into Thessalonica and taught them that they were already in the Day of the Lord. Paul had said they would never get into the Day of the Lord because the Rapture was first. Thus this new teaching upset them and Paul wrote II Thessalonians.

What did he tell them? He said you are not in the Day of the Lord. Why not? Because the man of sin, the lawless one, the antichrist, has not appeared. You see, the first major event of the Day of the Lord is the emergence of this man of sin. He said you are not in that day because he has not emerged. Of course, he cannot emerge until the Day of the Lord begins. The Day of the Lord cannot begin until the Rapture occurs. So, in effect he is saying that you cannot have this period of trial and trouble following the Rapture until the Rapture itself occurs. Hence we have an order of events that are necessary—the Rapture first, the Day of the Lord beginning next, and then the antichrist appearing.

Now, when will he be recognized? Obviously, as he moves on toward the end time it becomes more and more evident that he is the antichrist. But I think he is recognized first of all when he conquers three of those 10 countries in the revived Roman Empire. This empire is going to emerge about the same time as the Rapture. When he conquers the three countries, then all ten, it is rather obvious that he is that person.

According to Daniel 9:27, when he gets to that position of power he makes a seven-year covenant with Israel. Get the chronology of this. Seven years before the Second Coming, he makes the covenant. Before he makes the covenant, he has to conquer those ten countries. Before he can conquer those ten countries, he has to appear. He cannot appear until the Day of the Lord begins and the Day of the Lord cannot begin until the Rapture occurs. So we have a Rapture that is more than seven years prior to the Second Coming. That wipes out the post-Tribulational view, it wipes out the mid-Tribulational view, and it wipes out the partial-Rapture view. You see the Rapture occurs more than seven years before the Second Coming. That is what II Thessalonians teaches as we put together all the scriptures.

We also went into the Book of Revelation yesterday and looked at this idea that the Church has to go through the Tribulation. While the post-Tribulationists, before World War II, just said it was all past and that there was no tribulation ahead. Now, they say there is tribulation ahead. Now they have to face the facts that the Bible teaches that we are not subject to wrath.

When you get into the Book of Revelation it is very obvious that the wrath is there. Chapter 6 states that the wrath of God is there. The fourth seal in Chapter 6 wipes out a fourth of the world’s population. If that is not the Great Tribulation I do not know what is! Then, when you get down to the trumpet judgments that follow the seal judgments you find a third of the world destroyed in the sixth trumpet. Then, on top of that you come to Chapter 16 and here they pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the world and there are devastating world-wide judgments. The last one of which in Chapter 16 is an earthquake that levels the cities of the Gentiles (apparently not Israel). On top of that islands disappear, mountains disappear, the whole world is in convulsions. Can you imagine the loss of life, the destruction of property, the tidal waves, all the catastrophes that add up through this end-time scene? Then, on top of that, we are told that the world is peppered with a hail storm, with the hailstones weighing 100 pounds each. I do not need to tell you that that is absolute destruction. If you go to fictional books you could not imagine a more awful time.

Now, the post-Tribulationalists want us to believe that the Church goes through this unscathed! But, that is exactly what the Book of Revelation contradicts. While the 144,000 are preserved (12,000 from each of the 12 tribes), in Revelation Chapter 7 beginning in verse 9 Scripture pictures the scene in Heaven and John sees a great multitude of people from every nation and kindred and tongue. He asks where did they come from? They came out of the Great Tribulation. These are people who were saved after the Rapture – millions of them, perhaps— but now they are facing the awful judgments of the end time. The world ruler is going to try to kill every one of them. Behead them, according to scripture, because they will not worship him. Then, they are also subject to all the catastrophes that overtake the world in pestilence, famine, war. These do not just single out unsaved people. So, there is going to be a great mass of people who got saved after the Rapture that now seal their testimony with their own blood. It does not sound to me like the Church is going to go through this period unscathed. There will be some who escape, but I take it the percentage is small. The evidence seems to pile up that most of those who come to Christ in the Tribulation time will die a sudden, catastrophic death of one kind or another. So, that is what the Bible teaches. So, there is not any room for a post-Tribulational Rapture.

The Book of Revelation

Now, I want to turn to the Book of Revelation. I want you to see that this is not something I foist on the Book. This is what the Bible teaches. It is all related to the Second Coming of Christ. You see, the traditional post-Tribulationist view says that when Christ comes from Heaven in His Second Coming, that the Church rises up to meet Him and then turns around and comes back to earth with Him. The problem is where is that in the Bible? It simply is not there. I want you to see that.

In Chapter 19, first of all, we are introduced to the great glory of Heaven and the announcement is made in verse 7, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give glory for the marriage [and it should be the marriage feast] of the Lamb has come and his wife hath made herself ready. So, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

The Greek word is “gammos” in both cases. They did not have a marriage ceremony in Christ’s day like ours. They had a marriage supper. In understanding the traditions of the times there were three stages to this. There was the first stage where the parents of the bridegroom would pay the parents of the bride a dowry. When that dowry was paid, the young people were legally married. Usually, they did not start living together for at least another year. Then, there came the second phase when the bridegroom, as illustrated in the parable of the ten virgins, would claim his bride. That would be phase 2. The third phase was the wedding feast. What do we have here? The wedding feast.

So, it is very clear from Chapter 19 that the Rapture has already occurred. The bridegroom has already claimed his bride. You see, there is no room for a subsequent event like that when they are celebrating the marriage feast. That, of course, is the point of the ten virgins. The ten virgins, of course, assumed that the bridegroom has paid the dowry. He did that when He died for us on the cross. Then, the bridegroom claims his bride, but that is not the point of the parable. The point of the parable is to tell us who is eligible to attend the wedding feast. That is where the ten virgins come in. Of course, as you know, the five virgins were wise and went into the marriage feast and the others, who were not ready because they did not have oil in their lamp, were shut out.

In other words, the issue and the point of the whole parable was not so much to discuss the dowry or the Rapture of the Church because it does not really detail that. But it does teach the people who are going to face the issue to ask “are we ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb?”

There is a lot of debate as to when that occurs but hereafter more than seven years have gone by and it has not occurred yet. So, apparently, it probably is in connection with the first days of the Millennial Kingdom. That is as near as we can get to an affirmation. Now, you bear in mind and you have all seen this picture of this unending table which goes out into infinity. Are millions and millions of people are going to sit down to a wedding feast? Well, I am a literalist, but I find that a little bit hard to understand. I cannot imagine millions of people sitting down to a supper. So I take it that is what it is talking about is that we are all going to enjoy the blessings of Heaven-the bride and the bridegroom are there, of course. Then, all the others that are not part of the Church are also going to share in the blessings of eternity. They are going to be there and enjoy the Millennial Kingdom. That is why I think it is called a marriage supper. It climaxes Christ coming for His Church and taking her to Himself.

Let’s go on to this because in verse 19 and following we have a picture of Jesus Christ coming back in power and glory. In verse 11 and following, and I want you to listen as I read this—(Bear in mind the contrast between this scene of the Second Coming and the scene of the Rapture in I Thessalonians 4. What happened at the Rapture? Well, Christ appeared, oddly in Heaven. He calls Christians who have died to be resurrected; living Christians to be changed. They meet Him in the air and go to Heaven. He never touches the earth. The earth is not affected at all. In fact, there is no clear evidence that anybody in the world knows what is happening because the Rapture is an instantaneous event. Suddenly, every Christian is gone. It is going to be quite a traumatic experience for a person who is not a Christian to be talking to a Christian who suddenly disappears. I take it that the Rapture is going to really jolt some people into finding out what the truth is. I believe many of them will come to Christ as a result. Millions of people will accept Christ after the Rapture. That seems to be what the Bible teaches. Now, many of them, as I pointed out, will be martyred, but they will be saved and will be with Jesus forever.)—Here is the picture of what He saw in verse 11,

“I saw Heaven open and, behold, a white horse. He who sat on it was called faithful and true and in righteousness He judges and makes war.”

This is not a peaceful venture. The white horse, of course, is symbolic of victory. A Roman general when he won a victory would ride through the streets on a white horse and the prisoners of war would follow them in the streets. It says that he in righteousness judges and makes war. It is a time of judgment.

“His eyes are like a flame of fire. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood and His name is called the Word of God. The armies in Heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses.”

They are part of the victory, you see.

“Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword goes a sharp sword that with it He should strike the nations and He, Himself, will rule them with a rod of iron. He, Himself, treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God and He had on His robe and on His thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

This is an awesome, awesome picture and the scriptures tell us that the whole world is going to see it. Millions of saints and angels accompanying Christ from Heaven to the earth to assist in His Millennial Kingdom, His reign on earth. It is going to be a glorious thing and the heavens are going to be ablaze with the glory of God. I take it there may be a processional that will last for 24 hours because the earth turns. It says the whole world is going to see it. Now, it happened in an instant in one place in the Holy Land and the other side of the world could not see it. It says every eye is going to see it. They are going to know what it is. They are going to know it is the Second Coming of Christ and they are going to know that they are not saved. It is too late. There comes a time when it is too late. It is a time when the glory of Christ appears in Heaven. It’s too late to turn to Christ and be saved.

The verses which follow do not describe any rapture. In fact, I do not think there is a scrap of evidence that there is either a rapture or a resurrection on the day of Christ’s Second Coming. It is commonly held that is when it is going to occur. Try to find it in the Bible. It simply is not there. The resurrection comes a few days later, but there is not any rapture at all. You see, at the Rapture of the Church there are two things: there is a rapture of living people whose bodies were instantly changed,(according to I Corinthians 15, and made suitable for Heaven) and also there is a raising of the dead Christians from the dead and their souls reentering their new body. Those are the two things necessary for a rapture.

There is another resurrection but only one rapture in the Bible. So this is what happens at the Rapture of the Church. But there is no rapture here in Revelation 19 and there is no resurrection. We follow here in verse 17 that the “vultures, the birds in the midst of Heaven are invited to come and gather together for the supper of the great God that ye eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men” and so on. In other words, when Christ uses the sword out of His mouth, these armies which have been fighting it out for power and were brought there by Satan have all turned to try to fight the army from Heaven, but it is all absolutely futile. There is no war. Christ just speaks the word and all these millions of men involved in this final struggle and their horses are instantly killed. The judgment of God is not pretty. It is awful! That is one of the awful judgments here. The vultures are invited to feast and have their supper. This is in contrast to the marriage of the Lamb in the early part of the chapter, you remember, where the wedding feast is for the saved. Now, this is the vultures feeding on those who are lost.

It sums it up in verse 20, with the beast (that is the world ruler) and the false prophet (who worked with them and caused the people to worship him) are both captured alive and cast into the lake of fire. At this point, there is nobody in the lake of fire. To this point when unsaved people die they go to what we call “Hades,” a place of the dead. We have this place Hades described in various passages such as Luke 16 where the rich man and the poor man go to glory and they are separated and the poor man is in torment in Hades. Well, that is where they go now, but here is the first one that is cast into the lake of fire. We learn in Matthew 25 that the lake of fire is prepared for the devil and his angels. That is its primary purpose. That is where they are going to end up. But those who reject Christ are going to share that awful fate as the Bible makes very plain.

Certain things follow the Second Coming. It is amazing to me how Bible scholars mess this up. In Chapter 20, verses 1-3, it pictures the binding of Satan. You know what the Amillennialists try to tell us? That Satan was bound at the first coming of Christ. That is not what my Bible teaches. You remember in I Peter it tells us that the “devil is as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour”? If the roaring lion came down that aisle here you would lose interest in my sermon in a hurry, wouldn’t you? A roaring lion is not something you can tamper with. That is what Satan is doing. Do you realize? I do not think many Christians realize it, but if Satan had his way he would kill every Christian. He would ruin every Christian work. He would spoil everything and make it impossible. The only reason why we preachers survive and the only reason why you survive as a Christian with any testimony at all is because God protects you. That has always been true.

Do you remember the Book of Job? He was a godly, righteous man and God called Satan’s attention to him. Satan said, “well, it is because you are so good to him. Let me at him.” You know, God said “all right. You can get at him but you cannot take his life.” The first thing that Satan did was to kill every one of his family and all his herds. They were carried away and he was robbed. He was left with nothing except a wife who told him to curse God and die. The devil left her because he could use her. A sad thing, isn’t it?

Then, Satan said “let me get at HIM” and God said “all right. You can get at his body, but you cannot kill him.” He had terrible sores and we have the long record of how his friends tried to figure out what was happening. Now, this illustrates that Satan can get at us if God permits it. Satan told God “you have built a hedge about him that I cannot get at.” The only reason you have any peace and tranquility at all is because God has marvelously protected you. When you get to Heaven, you are going to discover all sorts of things that were kept out of your life by the power and grace of God that Satan would have loved to have brought in and just wrecked your life in every which way. So, here, we have some cast into the lake of fire where the Devil and his angels are going ultimately.

Now, in Chapter 20 we have Satan bound. I am distinguishing in this passage what John saw and what he heard. He saw an angel come down from heaven with a big chain and He bound Satan and put him in the abyss (that is the home of the demon world) and put a seal on the top and shut him out. That much he could see. What he did not know was the purpose. He heard that. It was revealed to him that what he was seeing is that Satan would be bound for 1,000 years. You cannot “see” those details. That had to be told to him.

Now, I believe that on the one hand we have to interpret what we see, but, on the other hand, when God says “this is what it means” then you are not free to “tamper” with that and say it does not mean what God says it means. The devil was bound here. For the entire 1,000–year reign of Christ, following His Second Coming, Satan and the demon world will be inactive.

People say, “why is there a Millennial Kingdom anyway?” Well, you know God has been trying the human race. He has tried them out in innocency and they sin. He tried them out with conscience—go down through the dispensations, He has tried every means possible! Now, people say, “well, it is the devil that tempted me.” All right. The devil is going to be bound. Are men still wicked? Yes, they are. We read that some, in spite of everything, with Christ visually present in the world, and His glorious nature. Yet they attempt to conquer the city of Jerusalem, the capital city, by force. Of course, there is a tragic end for them because fire comes down from heaven and destroys them. It illustrates that man, even under the best environment, with all the information that he needs to lead a holy life, is still basically wicked. Apart from the grace of God, there will be no salvation, no sanctification, no Heaven, and no grace of God is manifest in their life.

Verses 4 to 6 are especially interesting to me in regard to the Rapture. He said,

“I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness of Jesus and for the Word of God who would not worship the beast or his image, who had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.”

Now, who are these people? These are people who lived in that last three-and-a-half years prior to the Second Coming of Christ. It says here that when this beast, this world ruler was in power, that they refuse to worship him. The result was they were beheaded. They were killed one, two or three years before the Second Coming of Christ. Now it says that they lived and reigned with Christ 1,000 years. When were they resurrected? After the Second Coming of Christ. They had just been dead a few years. Now they are resurrected and resurrected from the grave. Do you know what the amillenarians do with that? They say this is simply the conversion of the unsaved. Where in the world is that in that passage? I cannot understand how competent scholars, godly men, can come up with such a strange interpretation. This is not the conversion of unsaved people. This is the resurrection of people who are born again and have died as martyrs and now are being restored. For what purpose? To live and reign with Christ for how many years? 1,000 years. You see, I am a pre-millenarian and I believe that Christ comes first and the Millennium follows. The reason I do is because it is taught in this verse. These people are going to reign with Christ for 1,000 years.

Now, it goes on to say this is the first resurrection. Wait a minute! Is this the Rapture? Well, of course not. What does it mean the first resurrection? You know it is amazing to me how post-Tribulational books land on this and they say this must be the Rapture. It has been explained again and again and again in pre-Tribulational books that that is not what it means. I have yet to read a post-Tribulational book that will acknowledge that they know the other answer. See, the word “first” occurs in different ways. It is not number one resurrection, but it means that something is done first. For instance, the housewife will say “I am going downtown to shop but first I am going to put the supper in the oven.” That is not the first time she did it. What does she mean when she says it is done first? Well, it is done before. There are two events here: going downtown is the second event, but the first event is putting the meal into the oven. Now, here are two events, too. Here is the resurrection of the righteous martyrs who died. That is first. The second resurrection is at the end of this chapter where the wicked dead, 1,000 years later, are raised from the dead and cast into the lake of fire. You see, one, two.

One of the strange things that theologians have tried to perpetuate is the idea there is one great final judgment and one great resurrection. The Bible does not teach that. You have just got to ignore what the Bible teaches in order to arrive at such a strange conclusion. You see, there is another resurrection in the Bible. What is the first one? Christ. Was He raised from the dead? Yes. Then, in Matthew 27 it tells us there was a token resurrection where a few were raised. Why? Because when Christ was raised He was the first fruits, plural, and so there are others raised to illustrate this and they were raised in Matthew 27.

Then, we have the Rapture of the Church. That is resurrection number three. Then, in Revelation 11, we have the two witnesses that witnessed for three-and-a-half years and God allows them to be killed. While the world is gloating over their death, they are lying in the streets of Jerusalem, suddenly they rise from the dead and are sent to Heaven. They are resurrected, too.

Here is the resurrection of the martyred dead—still another resurrection. This is resurrection number five if you want to keep track. Then, in Daniel 12 it mentions the Old Testament saints as being raised into the Tribulation. We are not told specifically what day it is, but that is the next one so there are six. The seventh resurrection, of course, is the resurrection of the wicked dead at the end of this chapter.

I want you to notice something, though, here. When does this resurrection take place? It takes place several days, apparently, after the Second Coming. In order words, there is a resurrection here, but there is no translation. You see, the saints that live on the earth at the time of the Second Coming go into the Millennial Kingdom in their natural bodies. They are not raptured. They still are in their natural bodies and the Bible pictures it that way. You read Isaiah 65. They are going to plant crops, they are going to build houses, they are going to bear children, they are going to live, they are going to die, they are going to sin. You see, they are still in their natural bodies and that is the way they are going to enter the Millennial Kingdom. So, there is no Rapture at that time.

If they have all been raptured at the time of the Second Coming there would be nobody left to populate the millennial earth in its natural way. So, there cannot be a Rapture at this time and there is not any. So, the first resurrection is the resurrection that is first in the sense that it is before the resurrection of the wicked at the end of the 1,000 years. It reminds us again they shall reign with Him 1,000 years. Verse 7 also tells us when the 1,000 years are expired Satan will be released from his prison and he will go out, as I have indicated earlier, and cause people who are not saved to rebel against God even in the Millennial Kingdom. And they are destroyed by a fire from heaven. Then follows the great sad, great White Throne Judgment of the wicked. They are cast into the lake of fire because their names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Now, you see there is just no Rapture here. We saw yesterday how in the judgment of the nations that the Gentiles the sheep are still mixed with the unsaved, the goats, after the Second Coming of Christ. There was no Rapture at the Second Coming. There was no separation, but it did occur later when those that were unsaved were taken out because they were not worthy to enter the Millennial Kingdom. But the righteous stay on earth, just the opposite of the Rapture, the righteous stay in and the wicked are taken out and they go into the Millennial Kingdom.

So, as you examine these scriptures there simply is no Rapture. There just isn’t any. Those who say that there is a Rapture at this point have to create it out of whole cloth. They do not have a single verse of the Bible to support their position.

Question and Answer

Now, we are going to have a little question/answer hour, as I promised, and our system is going to be very simple. Raise your hand. and I will ask you to state your question. Then, I will try to repeat it because they are going to try to record this. We will see if we can get a few questions answered this morning. Who will be first? Stand up so I can see you. All right.

Q: The question is where do people go into the Millennial Kingdom?

A: Now, the Bible does not give us much information on this, but it does tell us that when the present earth and Heaven flee away and are destroyed the New Jerusalem descends from God out of Heaven. In contrast to the new heavens and new earth which are said to be created, the New Jerusalem is not said to be created. This has raised the question. Is it in existence during the Millennial Kingdom? It is 1,500 miles square. It obviously would blot out the whole Holy Land if it was on earth. So it cannot be on earth. The theory is that there can be a city like that as a satellite city. The Bible does not tell us this. They are just manufacturing this in trying to figure it out. But there are some that think that resurrection and raptured saints will have their residence in the new Jerusalem.

Just like a person who has his residence in the country and goes into town to his office so we will commute from that to the earth to carry on our functions because we are going to work in the world. There is so little scripture on this that I would rather say I do not know and leave the matter up to God when the time comes.

There is much that God has not seen fit to reveal. Why has He not revealed it? Because we do not need to know. It is amazing how we all want to know the things we do not need to know and the things we ought to know sometimes we neglect. That, unfortunately, is the case in the study of prophecy. There are a lot of things that are not revealed. So, I cannot really answer your question with finality because the Word of God does not answer it. Next question.

Q: The question is, is the Holy Spirit taken out of the world at the Rapture? The resulting question is how can people be born again if the Holy Spirit is taken out?

A: Of course, you cannot take the Holy Spirit out. God is omnipresent. There is no way that that can be changed where He is not present in a part of His universe. So, He is going to be there. According to II Thessalonians 2, they Holy Spirit is going to be taken away in the sense that He removes the restraint. Now, you see in the present age the Church indwelt by the Holy Spirit is God’s principle means of holding down the floodtides of evil. While we are a small minority we, nevertheless, are the fountainhead for morality and rule of life and things that are right and wrong. We still point to the Church. The Church is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Now, if the Holy Spirit’s restraint is removed, the only way this could be accomplished is by the Holy Spirit to be taken out with the Church.

You see, before Pentecost the Holy Spirit did not indwell every Christian – now He does. As far as I can tell from scripture, once the Rapture of the Church occurs, the Holy Spirit does not indwell people in the Tribulation time. When you get to the Millennial Kingdom, then, again, the Holy Spirit indwells. So, we have to be very careful how we observe exactly what the scripture says and exactly what it does not say. You cannot remove the Holy Spirit. The fact is, as I brought out, millions of people will be saved after the Rapture. This cannot be accomplished without the Holy Spirit. Of course, the answer is how? Well, how were they saved before Pentecost? You see, the Holy Spirit was in the world there, but He was not in us. So, what changed is the indwelling of the presence of the Holy Spirit and His restraint upon the world of sin as a whole. That is going to be changed in the Great Tribulation. God is going to allow the human race to manifest how terribly sinful it really is. It will be a time of unprecedented lawlessness summed up, of course, ultimately in the worship of Satan and the world rulers. So, I take it the Holy Spirit is omnipresent, but He does not exercise the qualities He is doing now. Next question.

Q: The question is will the pope be able to bring together the various churches?

A: We have the so-called ecumenical movement that came to a head in 1948 when the World Council of Churches was formed and the purpose of this is to unite all Christians under one gigantic organization where the power will be in a hierarchy at the top. It has not worked out very well because it is largely in the hands of liberals, although there are some evangelical Christians involved in it. The world church movement is not prospering.

I take it when the Rapture of the Church occurs and every true Christian is taken out of the world, including out of the world-Church-movement, all who will be left will be apostate teachers. I take it this fulfills what Revelation 17 described as a harlot astride a scarlet colored beast. This is a world Church movement that is utterly wicked and utterly departing from God. In fact, the woman is described as drunk with the blood of the saints. He is going to put to death those who are actually born again.

So, there is a world Church movement in the world today. It is one of the major things I did not get to this week along with the work in the Church, the true Church, the Rapture of the Church, and then the nations of the world, the changes in Europe and the formation eventually of the Roman Empire. Then, we saw in Israel the fact that Israel is in the land—all these things are important and the world church movement is another aspect of that. So, I take it that that is part of the end-time picture. Now, put this together, if you will. In 1946, the United Nations brings the idea of a world government which, of course, characterizes the end. In 1948, Israel is given their 5,000 square miles. Israel is back in the land. In 1948, the World Council of Churches is formed. Here you have the three major areas of God’s prophecies – the Church, the world, and Israel – all affected in a very short time after World War II. It is just as if God is saying that the stage is getting set and the time is drawing near. It could be that the Rapture of the Church is very, very near.

Conclusion

Now, our time is up and we want to conclude this service. Let us bow in a word of prayer.

Our Father, how grateful we are that while there are many things we only know in part and many questions which cannot be finally answered, the things that are important have been answered. We know how to be saved. We know how to look for the Lord’s coming. We know that when He comes He is going to catch us out of the world and take us to Heaven. We know we are going to be in His presence forever. We are the objects of His love and grace and will illustrate through all eternity what the grace of God is. So, help us, Lord, to get excited about this and be looking for this precious hope and then be living in the way that is well pleasing to the Lord as we face this great future. We ask it in Christ’s name. Amen.

October 16, 2016

A student once walked into Dr. Howard Hendricks’ office at Dallas Seminary and announced, “Prof, I’m dropping out of school.” “Why is that?” asked Dr. Hendricks. “Because I’m convinced that the Lord is going to return shortly and I want to get involved in a ministry before He comes.” Dr. Hendricks replied, “If there is something that you would be doing differently if you knew that Jesus Christ would return tomorrow, then you’d better be doing it!”

Dr. Hendricks wasn’t suggesting that the student drop out of school and go out preaching on the streets. If he believed that, he wouldn’t have been committed to training men for the ministry at Dallas Seminary. He was saying that we should live every day with an expectancy of the Lord’s near return and yet also live in a normal manner. As Martin Luther is reputed to have said, “If I knew that the Lord was returning tomorrow, I’d plant a tree today.”

Throughout church history, there have been both individuals and groups that have gotten so caught up with prophecy about the Lord’s coming that they have acted strangely. Some have sold everything, quit their jobs, and waited on a hilltop for the Lord’s return at a predicted date. Harold Camping thought that Jesus would return in 1988. Others were sure it would be in 2000.

Apparently some of the Thessalonians had gotten a bit carried away and decided that in light of the Lord’s near return, they should quit their jobs and spend their time proclaiming the end of the world. In the meantime, if they had need of the world’s goods, well, other Christians were commanded to help them! So they were not working and were sponging off the church. This problem was probably only in its earliest stages when Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians, so he just mentions it in passing. But by the time he wrote 2 Thessalonians, the problem had grown, so he deals with it there more extensively (2 Thess. 3:6-15).

In our text, Paul gives some practical instructions about how to live until the Lord returns. He says that …

We should work at loving one another more and be showing God’s love by our behavior at work.

1. We should work at loving one another more.

1 Thess. 4:9-10: “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 practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more ….”

Paul began this letter commending the Thessalonians for their “labor of love” (1 Thess. 1:3). But he didn’t want them to rest on their laurels and become complacent about this most important quality. Note three things about loving one another:

A. Love for one another should be the distinguishing mark of the church.

In contrast to lust (4:3-8), Paul now turns to Christian love. Probably their culture, like ours, often confused the two. Sexual lust is never loving. It’s always selfish and harms all tainted by it. But Christians are not to be characterized by the passion of lust, but rather by fervent, pure love for one another. Paul uses the Greek word “philadelphia” (v. 9) which was used in secular writings for affection between natural brothers and sisters in a family. But in the New Testament, it is used of love between the members of the family of God, the church. Paul wasn’t correcting the Thessalonians for a lack of love, but rather encouraging them to keep working at it. Leon Morris (The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians [Eerdmans], p. 129) observes,

Something which should give modern Christians much food for thought is the way in which the early church was characterized by love. “Behold how these Christians love one another” is hardly the comment which springs spontaneously to the lips of the detached observer nowadays. But if our manner of life was based on the New Testament picture something like it would be inevitable.

Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another even as He had loved them. Then He added (John 13:35), “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” He also said that love for others is the second greatest commandment, after love for God (Matt. 22:39). Paul said that “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:10). John said (1 John 3:10, 14), “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother…. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.” So love isn’t optional. Genuine love for one another should be the mark of the church.

B. God is the One who teaches us about loving one another.

Paul says (v. 9), “you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.” He has just mentioned that God gives His Holy Spirit to you. In Romans 5:5, he states that “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” So when he says that the Thessalonians are taught by God to love one another, he’s probably referring to this work of the Holy Spirit, whom we receive when we trust in Christ. As 1 John 4:7-8 states, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

More than anywhere else, we see God’s amazing love demonstrated at the cross (John 3:16): “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Paul writes (Eph. 5:1-2), “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Based on these and other verses, I developed this definition: Love is a self-sacrificing, caring commitment that shows itself by seeking the highest good of the one loved. God so loved that He gave. Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. God’s love involves self-sacrifice. Selfishness is the main hindrance to love. Husbands are exhorted to love their wives even as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us (Eph. 5:25). It’s easy to grandstand and say, “I’d lay down my life for my wife if someone was attacking her.” But what about sacrificing your time and inconveniencing yourself to serve your wife each day? What about thinking of her needs and her perspective above your own? That’s where biblical love has to show itself. It isn’t just talk; it requires observable action.

Also, love is caring. This is the emotional element of love. It’s not just cold, perfunctory service. The actions of love are done out of a heart that genuinely cares about the other person’s well-being. Love is a caring commitment. With regard to marriage, it’s a lifelong covenant before God to your mate. Although you should feel love towards others, even when the feelings aren’t there you should act in love because you’re committed to them.

And, love seeks the highest good of the one loved, namely, that he or she would come to know Jesus and be conformed to His image. The goal of love, both in the family and in the church, should be to encourage and help the other person to know Christ and to grow in Christ. Our model for love is our Lord and Savior, who gave Himself for us on the cross while we were yet sinners (Rom. 5:8). He teaches us to love by His own example.

C. Love is an action that always requires improvement.

Paul has repeatedly commended their love, but they still needed to excel even more (cf. 1 Thess. 1:3; 3:6, 12; 4:1). Since Christ’s perfect example is our standard (John 13:34), we always have room to grow. We can always love our spouse more, our children more, our family members more, our fellow Christians more, and our neighbors more. This is not automatic; it doesn’t come naturally to any of us. It requires deliberate thought and effort. If you’re not deliberately thinking about and working at loving others more, chances are you’re not improving at this commitment.

One practical way to work on this is to write 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 on an index card and read it over every morning until it governs all of your interactions with people that day. Begin applying it to your immediate family, but extend it to all you have contact with. Ask yourself hard questions about each quality:

“Love is patient.” Would my family or co-workers describe me as a patient person? Do I have a “short fuse”?

“Love is kind.” Am I kind and gracious toward others, especially when they fall short of my expectations?

“Love is not jealous.” Am I competing with others by trying to get the attention, relationships, or possessions which they have?

“Love does not brag and is not arrogant.” Am I self-focused, always trying to impress others with my achievements, my opinions, or my knowledge?

“Love does not act unbecomingly.” Am I rude? Do I often interrupt others? Am I considerate of their feelings and points-of-view?

“Love does not seek its own.” Am I selfish? Do I think about others’ needs ahead of my own?

“Love is not provoked.” Am I easily offended? Do I get angry when people don’t do what I want them to do?

“Love does not take into account a wrong suffered.” Do I keep score? Do I remind others of past sins or failures? Do I hold grudges? Am I quick to forgive?

“Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth.” Am I glad when others fail or sin, because it makes me look good and I can use it as ammunition against them? Am I truly happy when I hear of others’ victories in the Lord?

“Love bears all things.” Do I bear with people in their immaturity or shortcomings or do I always correct them?

“Love believes all things.” Am I suspicious of others? Do I trust them unless there is good reason not to do so?

“Love hopes all things.” Do I “write people off”? Do I believe that God can work to change the other person?

“Love never fails.” Do I give up on others who have wronged or hurt me? Am I committed to help that person become all that God wants him or her to be?

Even if others who know you would say that you’re doing fairly well at loving others, there’s always room to grow because our standard is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

But Paul was concerned not only for love in our homes and in the church, but also that God’s love would be seen in the workplace. The connection between verses 9-10 & 11-12 is not immediately obvious. But Paul seems to be showing how we should demonstrate God’s love (vv. 9-10) in the workplace (vv. 11-12).

2. We should be showing God’s love by our behavior at work.

1 Thess. 4:11-12: “and 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 toward outsiders and not be in any need.” Note four things:

A. Showing God’s love at work requires goal-oriented behavior, not mindless drifting with the culture.

What is your goal at work? You say, “To provide for my family’s needs.” That’s a worthy goal, since Paul says that if you don’t provide for your family, have denied the faith and are worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim. 5:8)! That’s a serious warning! But if your only goal is to provide for your family, how do you differ from the world? That’s why almost everyone works. They’re trying to provide enough for their family’s needs and wants.

Paul says, “make it your ambition.” That phrase implies a goal and some effort toward that goal. The goal isn’t to climb the ladder to success or make a pile of money or beat your competitors. The goal is to be a godly witness to those without Christ. In LifeWork ([YWAM Publishing], p. xxi), Darrow Miller writes,

As the so-called developed world enters the twenty-first century, too often we Westerners find that the secular worldview has reduced work to a career and life to an endless consuming of things. As a result we live without hope and purpose, and both our work and life itself carry little if any meaning…. When we see our worth as determined by the marketplace and the amount of money we make, we often sacrifice what matters most—family, friends, marriages, Christian fellowship—in pursuit of success, prestige, fame, power, and other goals prized by the world.

So the point of “make it your ambition” is that you need to think biblically about your goals at work. Your aim should not be to become rich or successful. Rather, it should be to display the love of our Savior to those who wrongly think that making a lot of money or becoming successful at work will bring lasting happiness.

B.The means for showing God’s love at work is to lead a quiet life and to attend to your own business.

What does Paul mean by “lead a quiet life”? He uses a similar phrase in 1 Timothy 2:2, where he says that we should pray “for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” Peter mentions a similar quality when he enjoins wives with unbelieving husbands to win them without a word, specifically “with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit” (1 Pet. 3:1-6). In both contexts, the goal is godly witness, not through preaching, but through behavior that demonstrates contentment and peace in Christ. Because we are content with food and covering and don’t seek to get rich (1 Tim. 6:9-9), we can exude the quiet contentment that stands in contrast to the self-seeking, money-oriented values of the world.

“To attend to your own business” means that we should not be busybodies or gossips, meddling in matters that are none of our business (2 Thess. 3:11-12). He does not mean that we should not care about others’ problems, but rather that we should be known as those who can be trusted with confidential information without blabbing it all over the workplace. Both phrases imply that a Christian’s witness at work should primarily be through godly behavior, not through preaching.

C. The motivation for showing God’s love at work is to see the God-given dignity of work that is done for His glory.

The Greek culture in Paul’s day looked down on manual labor, which they viewed as fit only for slaves. But the Bible consistently upholds the dignity of all work. God gave Adam and Eve manual labor in the garden before the fall. Godly men in the Old Testament worked as farmers or shepherds. Paul made tents. He told slaves that they could do their menial work as unto the Lord (Col. 3:22-24). And, our Savior was a carpenter. When Paul says to work with your hands, he’s not prohibiting an office or professional job, but he is elevating manual labor as a dignified endeavor.

Some Christians erroneously view work as a curse. But God didn’t curse Adam’s work after the fall, but rather the ground that he tilled (Miller, p. 107). Work is now more difficult, but it does not lack dignity if we do it as unto the Lord. While some jobs may not be as satisfying as other jobs, we need to see work itself as being our calling from God. If you view work as a curse, you’ll try to avoid work and you won’t do your best on the job. You’ll only do the minimum required. But that hinders witness. Paul’s concern is that every Christian, including slaves, would (Col. 3:23) “do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men.” Why?

D. The aim for showing God’s love at work is to be a witness to outsiders and to provide for our own needs.

“To walk properly toward outsiders” means that our witness to unbelievers by our behavior on the job should always be uppermost in our minds. You should not spend company time in verbal witness, which would not please your employer. Except for a brief word here and there that doesn’t interfere with work, reserve that for after hours. Your employer didn’t hire you to evangelize your fellow employees on the job! Your witness on the job should primarily be by your contentment and peace in Christ and your personal integrity. Other workers should see that you aren’t greedily trying to take advantage of others. They should see your moral purity, concern for others, honesty, and work ethic.

“To not be in any need” means that we should be responsible managers of our income: paying our bills, living within our means, being generous and ready to share, and not mooching off the government or anyone else because we’re lazy or trying to take advantage of the system. Christians should not be a burden to others, but rather be able to help provide for those with true needs (the disabled, etc.; Eph. 4:28). Your fellow workers should be able to see that you live simply and generously as a Christian. You’re not acting in love when you expect financial favors from other believers simply because they’re your brothers in Christ.

Conclusion

Thus Paul is saying that we are to work diligently at loving one another and we are to act in ways that show God’s love at work. The Russian author, Leo Tolstoy (Twenty-Three Tales [Oxford University Press], “Where Love is, God is,” pp. 131-146) tells a story about a lonely, old Russian cobbler who was reading in Luke 7 about the Pharisee who did not welcome Jesus to his home. He thought, “If He came to me, would I welcome Him?” Pondering this, he fell asleep. Suddenly, the old man heard a voice calling his name: “Martin, Martin, look out in the street tomorrow for I shall come.”

The next day, he kept watch out of his window as he worked. He saw an old man that he knew, invited him in by his fire, and gave him some tea. He told the man about Christ’s mercy as he had been reading in the gospels. The old man listened with tears running down his cheeks and left thanking him for his hospitality.

A while later, Martin saw outside a woman dressed in shabby summer clothes, trying to keep her crying baby warm. He invited her in to sit by his fire. She was destitute and had pawned her shawl the day before to get something to eat. He fed her, gave her an old coat to wrap around her baby, and gave her the money to get her shawl out of pawn. Later he helped reconcile a poor woman and a boy who stole an apple from her. So the day passed, but there had been no appearance of Christ.

It was evening now. Martin lit his lamp, and opened his Bible. He had intended to read where he had left off the night before, but the Bible fell open to another place. Before he read, he heard a voice call out, “Martin, it is I.” He looked up and saw the old man he had helped, and then he vanished. This was repeated with the woman and her baby, and with the woman and boy he had served that day. Then he read, “I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in.” At the bottom of the page, he read, “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me” (Matt. 25). Tolstoy concludes, “And Martin understood that his dream had come true; and that the Savior had really come to him that day, and he had welcomed him.”

That poor cobbler was demonstrating God’s love in his workplace. Paul wants us to be working at love for others and to be showing God’s love at work.

Application Questions

1. Some would say that if love requires effort and is not spontaneous, it is not genuine. Why is this false?
2. What’s the difference between loving a fellow Christian and liking him (or her)? Are we obligated to like others?
3. Is it wrong for a Christian to have “getting rich” as part of a career goal? Consider 1 Tim. 6:6-11 in your answer.
4. Are “full-time ministry” jobs a notch above “secular” jobs in God’s kingdom? Why/why not?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2016, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation