1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, Christ Likeness: It's worth the cost.

Theological Proposition/Focus: God desires for each of us to live in a way that is pleasing to him.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: We should strive for Christ-likeness constantly living in a way that pleases God.

Introduction:

I'm sorry, but you are going to have to have an airplane sermon today. I try to keep my examples and illustrations varied. I try not to have too many math examples or airplane examples, but as I looked over this passage I couldn't help but see the connections to airplanes. So please excuse me this time as I talk a little about airplanes.

Image: Learning to land an airplane

The first time I landed an airplane all alone was two days after my sixteenth birthday. I landed a couple of times with my instructor and then he asked me to bring the airplane to a stop on the runway. The next thing I knew he had popped open his door and was hopping out of the plane. "Go and do a couple by yourself," he said. Since that day I have landed airplane hundreds of times but even now I am still refining and improving.

Setting the Stage:

Written from Corinth a town with significant problems (promiscuity and morality).

When Paul wrote First Thessalonians he was in the city of Corinth. The city of Corinth was a city that had significant problems with promiscuity and morality. From one perspective, the Apostle Paul would have been writing from a hotbed of sin and so as he wrote to his spiritual children in Thessalonica he naturally was concerned for their moral well-being.

This gives us a really cool opportunity to better understand what we need to watch out for in life. What we need to avoid in order to be more Christ like. Let's dig into 1 Thessalonians 4 and try to understand Christ-likeness.

If you read First Corinthians you will find the Paul rebuked the Corinthians inside and out for sin after sin; incest, prostitution, lawsuits, lack of love. In Thessalonians Paul is very positive but his concern is genuine, it is all too easy to fall into sin.

Body

Perfect Christ-Likeness is unattainable in this life but worth pursuit (4:1-2).

It is possible to live in a way that is pleasing to God.

We should not view the Christian life as a set of rules to obey or prohibitions to avoid.

No, the Christians life is the natural result of a desire to please God. Think about this, when you play soccer or some other sport you are not constantly thinking about the rules or the fundamentals, no you are thinking about how to move the ball, how to score a goal, how to win the game. If you can't handle the fundamentals then you are bound to lose but the fundamentals and rules are not your motivation. The fundamentals and rules are in place to help you win the game.

It is possible to grow in the way we please God.

The second half of verse 1 takes this just a little further. Yes, the Thessalonians are living in a way that pleases God but they have not arrived. There is room to grow. In fact, it is not Paul who is urging or encouraging them to grow but Christ.

You may think you have reached a pretty good level in life but it is not enough.

I am sorry but I need to tell you that this side of Heaven you are never going to arrive. We all need to keep growing.

We have been given instructions on how to do this.

The good news is that we know how to grow. In the case of the Thessalonians Paul reminded them that he had taught them Christian morality. They knew how to live and how to grow. We also know how to live and grow if we take the time to know God's word.

1 Cor. 13:10 states  but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

For the believers in Thessalonica the New Testament had not been written. In fact, likely the only written text of the New Testament they had at this point was their copy of First Thessalonians. These believers had to rely on the oral teaching they had been given by Paul. We, today, have a different way for knowing how to live. We have the complete Word of God. The old oral tradition has gone away as the Word of God is now recorded.

Heb. 4:12 states  For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Our source, our insight comes from God's word. We read the Bible and learn how to live in a way that pleases God.

Image: Practicing Landings

I mentioned that I first learned to land an airplane when I was pretty young. You might think that I was an expert at this point. I have had years to perfect my landings. I will tell you that I am far from an expert. I don't expect I will ever get to the point where every landing is perfect but I keep working at it. Why? Because it matters, the better I am at landing the safer I am and so every time I fly the airplane I work to make the landing a little better. In fact, there are times when I go fly and just practice landings. Of all the things that one can do in an airplane, why would I just practice landing? Because it matters, it is worth the effort.

The foundations of Christ-likeness are worthy of review (4:3-8).

God desires that each individual set themselves apart for Him (3a).

Have you ever wondered what God's will is for your life? The answer is easy, your personal holiness.

what one wishes to bring about by the activity of others, to whom one assigns a task (This is the usage here)

You don't have to go through life wondering what God's will is for your life. God's will is for you to be holy. To be Christ like. Yes, God may have some other things for you to do in life but understand that your fundamental purpose your first calling is to live a life that is like Christ.

Christ-likeness demands self-control (3b-6).

Concept 2: Learn to control your body. - 4a

Here is something that is not fun to talk about but a reality. As people mature they begin to discover that their body gives them particular urges and desires. Paul tells the Thessalonians that they need to learn to control themselves. Paul notes that the Christian response to sexuality is different than the outside world which tells people to satisfy their lustful passions.

The foundations are important because they are fundamental to our calling (7-8).

God has not called you to do something crazy but to be like him!

We must understand this, we are not given rules to arbitrarily follow, we are given a guide to living the way God made us to live, like Him.

Image: The day I forgot the foundations.

I still remember my worst landing ever. I told you about my first solo landing. Well a few months after my solo landing I was flying again with my instructor learning how to fly into an airport with a control tower. I was tired from the trip and working in the new environment. I approached the runway to land, came down about in the center, and just stuck the airplane to the ground. There was no flare or anything, I just planted on the ground. We hit hard enough that it actually popped open one of the doors. I was surprised by the landing and my instructor was not too happy. He looked at me and said "what was that? There was absolutely no flare." We parked the plane got out and took some time to rest before completing any more flying that day. I had dropped one of the fundamentals, a foundation. When flying an airplane you need to slow down the rate of descent before touching the ground, kinda basic.

In life we often get tired and we can forget the basics, the foundations. Self-control is one of the basics but just because you are a long-time Christians does not mean you are immune to mistakes.

Deeper Christ-likeness heavily involves love (4:9-12).

Love is an area where all of us can grow (10).

The Thessalonians had already shown love. Their love was known, but still Paul urged them to grow in love.

Love is entirely otherish (11-12).

Paul outlines some steps to growing in love

Don't micro manage other people's lives. - 11b

We must take this in balance. As part of the body, the church, we are supposed to hold each other accountable but we should not micromanage.

Image: Landing is probably the hardest part of flying but is really only the beginning.

After my first solo landing, I still had a lot to learn. In fact, I ended up taking another 20 hours of flight lessons before I was ready to take the exam for my private pilot's license. After that I took another 40 or so hours to get an instrument rating. Most people think of the instrument rating as learning to fly without seeing the ground. Actually that is the easy part, anyone who has played video games can fly without seeing the ground. The hard part is learning to interact with the national air traffic control system. Learning to play nice with other airplanes.

I think something similar is true in the Christian walk. As we grow in Christ-likeness we begin to find that we always need to grow in our otherish areas. We need to grow to play nice with other Christians.