Living a life that is pleasing to God. 1 Thess 4:1-12

Paul wrote this letter to the new converts in Thessalonica; people who had been Christians for only few months. Paul tells them what God expects of new converts after their conversion to the Lord. The theme of this book comes from 1 Thess 3:8 “ For now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord”.

Notice that Paul did not stay long in Thessalonica on his initial visit as he went to Berea. The Thessalonians were converted out of a religious culture of idolatry that promoted fornication (1 Thess 1:9). So Paul wrote this letter from Corinth, to deal with some doctrinal problems concerning Christian behaviour.

Living a life that is pleasing to God is therefore central in Paul’s letter. You can only please God if you live after the principles of God’s will. Paul says, “ More than anything else, however, we want to please him, whether in our home here or there.” (2 Corinthians 5:9)

Is the Lord well-pleased with what you are doing? This question is important because the Scriptures reveal that we were created by God for His own pleasure (cf. Revelation 4:11 'for thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.') That is why God wants us to be transformed and to thus grow in the image of Christ. Because it is this particular image that pleases Him the most. When God can see the image of Christ being formed in you, He is pleased with what He sees. And you would have then fulfilled your role as God's creature - to bring great pleasure unto Him 

How pleased is God with the image of Christ in us? This can only be seen in the way God speaks of Christ in scriptures, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' One took place at the time that Christ was baptized (Matthew 3:17), and the other was at the time that Christ was transfigured (Matthew 17:5). Knowing how well pleased God the Father is with Christ, His only begotten Son, we must press on to bear the image of Christ in us. This is how we all can live a life pleasing unto God. 

And if you truly believe in Christ and are saved, you will have the desire to please the Lord in everything you do. Instead of living to please yourself, you will live to please God. Your attitudes and values change, your preferences, likes and dislikes will be different from before, when you are living to please the Lord.

The believer who is truly saved will live no longer to please himself, but to please God. A life that is well-pleasing to God will be the outcome of salvation, proving that it is a genuine salvation. Dearly beloved, are you living your life in a manner that is well-pleasing to God? Can God see the likeness of His only begotten Son in your life? Can He say of you, 'This is my beloved child in whom I am well-pleased?'

The passage begins: Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.' As disciples of Jesus, one must continue to grow. As Christians walk by faith, they continue to mature toward the image of Christ. Let us look at those ways we must please God in:

I.            In Moral Purity

This is mentioned in vv.3-4 'For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour,' The sexual immorality  refers to all forms of sexual sin: pre-marital sex, prostitution, adultery, incest and homosexual relationships. The world we live in is getting more permissive than ever before. A survey taken a few years ago among university students revealed that up to 60 % think that premarital sex is all right. They say that everybody is doing it, and that it is a very natural thing to do, just like animals who do it by instinct.

Sexual sins are even being promoted widely by popular media and behavioural scientists. They are trying to teach that true happiness is found outside monogamous faithful marriage and recommend that more should have affairs. The gay movement is striving for rights to have homosexual marriages, adopt children, and to have school textbooks rewritten to include and even recommend their lifestyle as an acceptable option.

The only cure is to go back to the Bible. The Bible teaches us that any sexual pleasure must be enjoyed only within the context of marriage. Any sexual pleasure that is derived outside of marriage is outside of God’s plan. The sad thing is that sexual sins are found not only among non-believers, but also among Christians! While they should be the ones who are seeking to please God, they displease Him instead by having an affair with someone. It will not surprise me if I discover that any of you are our within you people are having sexual affairs. I only pity those but it is happening.


sexual sin displeases God and in fact, it brings down His wrath because of disobedience (Ephesians 5:6). God wants us to take such a serious view of sexual sin, that we should even consider lustful thoughts and desires as sinful! A mind that is filled with such thoughts is not the mind of Christ. What if my thoughts were projected on a screen for people to see? Note that God sees your thoughts.
This is mentioned in v.5 of our text which says, ‘not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;' The word  Passion or concupiscence here means craving, longing or desiring what is forbidden. There are some who say that indulging one's lust is normal and harmless so long as the acts imagined in one's mind are not carried out. It is a fact that every act of sexual immorality always begins with immoral thoughts. Therefore, we must flee from these lusts. Don't let your mind swallow anything that will cause temptation. Deliberately avoid the thing, the person, the place, or the activity that sets the stage for temptation. 

If you want to please God you must be careful with media (magazines, books, films, TV shows and internet). Flee from pornography!  Sometimes you may be tempted to satisfy your curiosity to know about these things, thinking that this is all right as long as you do not commit them. But before you knows it, you will find yourself drawn deeper into sin.

If you want to live a life pleasing to God, you must keep clear of anything that will stir up sexual thoughts and feelings. Do not give that 'second look.' I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I gaze at a virgin?' (Job 31:1). Follow Joseph's example: When Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him, what did he do? He did not stay there a moment longer, but ran away!
And whenever such temptations come, let us remember the words of v.7 of our text: ‘For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.' God has specially called you to be morally clean in all your thoughts, words and actions as he calls you to offer yourself as living sacrifice, acceptable to his service and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1)

Please do not despise your special calling, for by doing that you would end up not pleasing God but despising Him! V.8 tells us 'He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us His holy Spirit.' We move on now to another aspect in which we should seek to please God, and that is:

II.           In Brotherly love

Verse 9 tells us ‘Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,' The word for 'brotherly love' here is philadelphia. This word was often used to describe the mutual love and affection that exists between family members, such as parents and children, husbands and wives. And so, this verse is saying that the love that Christians should have toward one another in the Body of Christ should be like the love that members in a close-knit family have for one another. I call this family relationship. This love prohibits sexual activity (eros).

It is for this reason that Christians are called 'brethren' (as Paul addresses the Thessalonians in 4:1) this term means 'brothers and sisters.' Those who are so closely related should not have to be told to love one another. It should be something that comes very naturally.

That is why Paul did not have to elaborate further on how the Thessalonian Christians should love one another and he says in v.9, 'you yourselves are taught of God to love one another.' There are many practical ways of showing love for one another, e.g. giving to help those who are in need, expressing warm appreciation and thanks, enquiring after the welfare of others, comforting those who are in sorrow, correcting those who are going astray, and forgiving those who have offended you. 

Brotherly love is not a love cannot be hidden. If you look at v.10 you will see that Paul knew about the brotherly love that the Thessalonian Christians had for their brethren in Macedonia. This refers to the churches at Philippi and Berea. Even though these cities were quite far from Thessalonica, the Thessalonians apparently travelled all the way to them to see how they could be of help to them in practical ways.

Many of us today say brother, sister but we tear them down with our mouths and gossips. we give lip service because we hide information from them but we say they are brethren. We are unable to correct them when they do wrong and we claim they are brethren: that is not love!

So dearly beloved, let us all put our Christian love into action. Be sensitive to the needs of fellow Christians around you and be ready to love them with the love of Christ. Go out of your way for those who are in need. For by doing that you are in effect doing the same to our Lord Himself. Jesus said, 'Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.' (Matthew 25:40) There is no better way to please our Lord than to show brotherly love one for another. It really brings out the likeness of Christ who loved us with more than brotherly love. See how Paul expresses his joy and God’s reaction in Philippians 4:18 (read)
Now thus far we have seen two aspects in which we ought to seek to please God: In Moral Purity and in Brotherly Love. Let us go on now to the third aspect which is given in vv.11-12:

III.         In Earning an Honest Living

‘And to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.' Making an honest living is oftentimes not easy in the world we live in, where the prevailing trend is to make a living by any possible means, honest or not. 

Some time last year there was a case of a bank teller who embezzled funds for himself from fixed deposit accounts by forging signatures of the customers. I know him and I visited him in jail. The children were hurt and the wife as well. Some fabricate services with too much money, others fake measures or falsify reports or estimates just because they want to earn more. Cheating and dishonesty not only hurts others, but also displeases God.

Another means of making a living that displeases God is gambling. People who gamble often dream of that chance in a million of striking it rich overnight, and making huge fortunes merely by risking a small amount of money. And when times are bad and people are not able to get a job, the temptation sometimes comes to 'try your luck' so to speak. Please do not give in to such temptation. If you have been secretly or openly playing with jackpot machines, Xbet, parifoot, PMUC please realise that God is not at all pleased and will not bless your income. You will lose whatever you win.

Another means that we should never use, is to live off the earnings of others. This was a persistent problem among the Thessalonian Christians. There were some members who refused to work, but who lived off the hard earned income of other members in the church. They were idlers who were neither sick or invalid, but were able-bodied people. Instead of working, they spent their time gossipping loudly, and sticking their nose into other other people's affairs.

This is why Paul wrote to them, 'that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands' (v.11). In the second epistle to the Thessalonians, Paul wrote about them again, 'if any would not work, neither should he eat.' (2 Thessalonians 3:10). The exception of course are those who want to work but are unable to work, because of illness or a home quarantine order. But even those who have been blessed with a huge windfall, should not think to themselves that they can now retire early and do nothing. They should be gainfully employed and not idling around. 'Idle hands are the devil's workshop'.
Now that we have seen three aspects of life where we must walk pleasing to God, (Moral purity, Brotherly Love and Earning an Honest Living) there is one more thing we must take note of in this passage about pleasing God. If you really are serious about wanting to please God, you should not only be doing these things, but trying all the time to do more and to do better. 

This is brought out in two verses: v.1 'Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.' As well as v.10 'And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more'

Many of you here are already applying all the three aspects of pleasing God in your life. In moral purity, you have successfully been faithful in your marriage or your singleness. In brotherly love, you have done many good things to help others. In earning a living, you have done it all by honest hard work. All that is very well and good. But there is always room for improvement. And if your heart's desire is truly to please the Lord, you will not be satisfied with what you have already done. You will strive to do better than that and keep on growing into the image of Christ!

It is time for you to make a commitment to grow more and more. Whatever level you have already attained in your walk with God, seek to get on to a higher level. There are still things in your life that are not pleasing to God. From what we have learned from God’s word there are areas of your life that needs prayer and diligent effort, so that the image of Christ will become clearer in your life. Think of the words that God spoke concerning Christ, 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased.'
We shall look at sex, dating and relationship. But have you been engaged in illicit sex? Have you been having passionate kissing with someone with whom you are not married? Have you been having fondling or mutual masturbation even with the one you say you are dating? God is not pleased with you. I invite you to get into prayer as we close this section. Tell God exactly how you feel. Tell him what you intend to do with that sin.

Note that no one can please God without faith. “No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6).