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by GLENN PEASE
01/25/18
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Based on I Thess. 4:9-12

      No one doubts that man has made a great deal of progress in the physical realm. In 1903 when the Wright Brothers flew their heavier than air machine, the whole distance of their first flight was less than the wing spread of a modern B 36. Progress has been obvious. The progress in medicine has been equally amazing. Someone has said that if they get wonder drugs any more powerful you won’t be able to take them unless in you are in perfect health. William E. Hocking has said, however, “Progress does not carry with it religious progress. It means rather that men have found new ways of being lost.” Physical and technological progress does not bring people closer to God. It often only makes them more efficient sinners.

        Progress is the spiritual realm is the obligation of Christians in every age. They always have the great responsibility of providing the world with Christ-like lives. If the church is to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth it must maintain a constant growth in spiritual matters. Christians ought to resolve, not just every New Year, but every day of their lives to be a more Christ-like witness in our world that is still in the dark ages spiritually. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians and suggested some vital areas for spiritual progress that are as relevant today as they were then. In fact, if we resolved to carry them out, they would revolutionize our Christian witness in the world. In these 4 verses Paul first deals with our relationship to believers, and then with our relationship to unbelievers.

I. OUR RELATION TO BELIEVERS.

        Concerning brotherly love, says Paul, there is no need to write to you, for you are taught of God. Love of one another is inherent in the Christian experience. One cannot become a new creature in Christ and not recognize that love is the basic foundation for our fellowship. A non-loving Christian is a contradiction in terms. It is true that individual Christians can have antagonism for one another, and thereby place themselves outside of God’s will, but even such Christians still love other Christian people. It is impossible to be a Christian and not love other Christian people. John said, “He that loves not his brother abides in death.” It is possible to remain on a low level in this area, however. That is why Paul says that there is no need to write, but then goes on to write anyway. There is need to tell them about love, but there was a need to urge them on to greater love.

         The Greek word here for brotherly love is philadelphia. The idea of brotherhood comes from this word. Few ideas have been more abused than the one of brotherhood. It has been made so superficial by a loose and broad use of it so that it has lost its biblical ring. The Bible uses it only to refer to relationships within the church. It is a relationship among believers in the Bible, but in liberal circles the concept of the brotherhood of man has been watered down so that it is made to refer to all people. We need to beware of throwing away biblical truths just because they are abused. Brotherhood is a perfectly good word that came into this world because of Christ. It is even true in some sense that we are brothers of all men, but the biblical use of brotherhood is limited to those within the family of God. This is important lest we loose sight of the distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.

        Agape is the word used in the Bible for universal love. We are to agape even our enemies. God so agaped the world that He gave His only Son. Philadelphia is a more particular love for the brethren. It is where we start as Christians. We are to love the brethren, but then go on to broaden that particular philadelphia love into universal agape love. The New Testament makes a clear distinction between these two loves, and it shows that growth upward is from philadelphia to agape. In II Peter 1:5-7 we read, “Add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” Charity, of course, is agape.

        Paul says to them that they are doing fine, for they have given evidence of their love to all the brothers in Macedonia, but he urges them to go on and abound more so as to love universally as God loves. Don’t keep your love just within the realm of Christian circles. Go beyond this to even love those who are no part of the church. What Scripture seems to teach here is that love for the brothers is a natural part of the Christian life. It comes with the new birth, but only in seed form. It must grow and abound more and more until we are mature enough to see that our love must include event he non-Christian world. This is a goal we are to strive for because it does not come automatically. It is a goal reached only by growth. This being the case, there can be few resolutions more revolutionary than to resolve to rebound in love, and seek to grow in conformity to the love which Christ has for all men.

II. OUR RELATION TO UNBELIEVERS.

       Paul advises first that they major in silence. Most Christian schools have a major in speech, but I have never heard of one with even a single course in quietness. Maybe it is because it would be too tough, for Paul implies that this is no snap course, but a real rugged one. The word for study is a strong word. It means to earnestly strive to be quiet. Paul uses the same word in Rom. 15:20: “Yea, so have I strived to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation.” In one other place he uses it in an even stronger sense. In II Cor. 5:9-10 he says, “Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ...” The word labor is the same word as study is here, and it shows how strong the word is, for it is the word Paul used to describe his activity to please Christ.

         This seems paradoxical to make such a struggle to be quiet. As one translation has it, “Make a desperate effort on behalf of tranquility of mind.” It sounds like the man who said, “We will have peace even if we have to fight for it.” You wouldn’t think it would be such a battle just to be quiet, and to live a peaceful life, but it takes a great deal of effort, and each Christian should resolve anew every year to concentrate on being quiet. Pascal’s statement may seem a little strong when he said, “I have often said that all of the misfortunes of men spring from not knowing how to live quietly at home in their own rooms.” This was certainly true to a large extent in this church. Paul’s letter to them indicates that they were probably getting a reputation in the community as being fanatics. This is only a problem when Christians are truly fanatical. They were all excited about the second coming to the point that they became lazy busybodies, and they were indifferent to society. Every time this has happened in the history of the church it has left a dark blot of shame and failure.

       Paul lays down some principles in this passage that would have prevented all of these if men would but guide their lives according to God’s Word. Paul makes it clear that any view of the second coming which makes one less fit for a long life of usefulness on earth is a false view. It is a sin to be so heavenly minded you are no earthly good. Paul urges them to mind their own business. Nose trouble has always been a vice among Christians. Just because we have received Christ does not mean we have been given a divine search warrant that permits us to meddle in people’s lives.  Christians are to respect the rights and privacy of other people.

        John Wesley said that the best evidence of a man’s growth in grace is when he can say, “Every year I become more merciless in my judgments of myself, and more merciful in my judgments of others.” In other words, the Christian who resolves to concentrate on his own conformity to Christ, and not try and change other people, will be the Christian whose life most does change other people. Someone has said, “A man who cannot mind his own business is not to be trusted with that of the king.” If someone tells us to mind our own business, let us not be offended, for it is not only biblical advice, it is essential to our spiritual progress.

        Paul then tells them to work with their own hands. The Christian who does a good days work in whatever he is doing is fulfilling the will of God in a far more realistic way than we recognize. Even if Christ is coming again this week, the Christian who is in the will of God will be doing a good job at his work. If he makes shoes, he will make them good enough to last for months, even though his conviction is that Christ may come in a week. A sloppy job is never a credit to a Christian, and it hinders his witness to the world. Apparently some of these Christians had quit working completely. There thinking was that if Christ is coming soon, what sense does it make to plow the fields and sow grain? There are two things wrong with this thinking. First, we do not know when Jesus is coming, and second, even if we knew it would be soon, we have an obligation to witness to the world. Who would be drawn to a faith that makes men less effective for life, and less responsible as citizens?

        William Barclay said, “When we Christians prove that our Christianity makes us better workmen, truer friends, kinder men and women, then and only then are we really preaching.” To either run around or lay around like fanatics or busybodies, as if the world is coming to an end, is neither good sense nor good Christianity. Paul says to calm down and establish yourselves in a pattern of life which challenges the world by showing the power and the love of Christ. The Christian is to be the best citizen, the superior worker, and the most conscientious servant. Why? It is because you have an obligation to the non-Christian world. I have heard people say that they don’t care what people think. This is a bad attitude, for God does care, and he expects us to care as well.

        The church is to be conscious of its image before the unbelieving community. We are not a water-tight colony indifferent to public opinion. We have an obligation to life a life worthy of a people who claim to be children of God. We are epistles read of all men. We are living products of the grace of God. God forbid that this makes us less useful for practical living. Paul wanted these believers to recognize that one of the most revolutionary resolutions that can be made in life is the resolution to walk worthy of those called of God. We are to strive to live all of life on a level that benefits men and brings glory to God. May God help is to be committed to philadelphia the brothers and agape the world. This will always be our most revolutionary resolution.

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