First Thessalonians four, begin in verse nine this morning. But as touching brotherly love,
you need not that I write unto you, for you yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. And indeed you do it toward all
the brethren which are in all Macedonia, but we beseech you,
brethren, that you increase more and more. and that you study
to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your
own hands as we commanded you, that you may walk honestly toward
them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing.
Let's pray together. Father, thank you again for bringing
us before you this morning to Consider this passage and to
see our Savior in it. Pray, Lord, that he would be
honored and glorified in the preaching of it and in the hearing
of it. Lord, we need your wisdom. We need your light. Please reveal
to us the necessity of our Lord, necessity of our bowing to him
and looking to him for all things. Get honor and glory to yourself,
Lord, and save us. Have mercy on us this morning.
In Christ's name we ask it, amen. We'll begin with verse nine there,
1 Thessalonians 4. But as touching brotherly love,
you need not that I write unto you, for you yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. Remember what the apostle's dealing
with in this whole chapter, really, and I guess more than just this
chapter, but look at verse one again. Furthermore, then, we
beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, as you
have received of us how you ought to walk, and to please God, so
you would abound more and more. We know from much scripture that
walking before the Lord, walking after the Spirit and not after
the flesh, being ordained unto good works that he hath before
ordained that we should walk in them, we know that the walk
of the believer is as much his saving power and grace as all
of salvation, as our very righteousness before God is of him, so is this. So the Holy Spirit now shows that
it's needful to emphasize brotherly love here as in other places
in scripture. When Paul says it's not needful
here, he doesn't mean that in the sense that it's not necessary.
he means to indicate how much this need has already been highlighted
and impressed upon them. I need not say it again, but
he did need to say it again because the Holy Spirit had him say it
again. But he's just emphasizing that how much this has been basic. It's just, it shows us to consider
this as basic and vital truth in the church, in the worship,
in our lives, how we ought to walk. Love for one another. Love for one another. Now this
teaching was a big part of our Lord's words to his disciples
as he departed this earth bodily. And that has special significance.
Our Lord has walked with these men for three years and taught
them and been If you can just imagine the experience of walking
with the Lord and watching Him and hearing Him and seeing His
power and hearing the grace pour from His lips for three years
and then He's going away. But before He did, John 13, if
you'd turn there with me, John 13. Verse 31. Therefore, when he was gone out,
and that was Judas that had gone out to go betray our Lord, Jesus
said, now is the son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
It is his betrayal. his abuse and being taken by
the hands of wicked men and Crucified and slain that is God's greatest
glory Revealed in the person of Christ in him crucified God
is glorified if God verse 32 be glorified in him God shall
also glorify him in himself and shall straightway glorify him
little children Yet a little while I am with you. You shall
seek me, and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go, you cannot
come. So now I say to you, a new commandment
I give unto you. You see the beautiful context
of this. You can't go where I'm going
right now. I'm not gonna be with you much
longer, so now, so right now, on that occasion, because of
that, I say this to you, that you love one another, you're
gonna need one another. He made it that way. He's been their encouragement,
he's been watching over them, he's saying, now you watch over
each other. Not that the Lord's not gonna
be in that, of course he is. But he's saying, now I'm gonna
use you to do it. You love one another. You love
one another. As I have loved you, that you
also love one another. By this shall all men know that
you are my disciples, if you have love one to another. That's
not just good feelings toward each other. The world wouldn't
see that. This is gonna be conspicuous
love. This is gonna be undeniable love.
This is gonna be distinguishing love that sets you apart from
everybody else in this world. And so we're taught of God, and
look at a key word in the next verse of our text. Look back in 1 Thessalonians
4 in verse 10 now. that you love one another. This
is basic, this is vital, this is something that he's saying,
I need not even tell you this anymore because you've heard
it so much. You know that you've been taught this by the Lord
himself as he still walked with you. Look at verse 10, and indeed,
you do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia, but
we beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more. So think about this concerning
brotherly love Paul wrote here you do it That's the thing about brotherly
love you do it you don't just feel it You don't even just say
it you do it. It's something that you do This
defines what he wrote in verse 8 And what our Lord taught there
in John 13 what he means by that is It's not just that you have
fond thoughts of one another. That's gonna be true too. But
it's more than that. It's something more than that. You see verse eight here of our
text. Are you there? Or in verse eight
of where we read, I guess it was, I don't know. I probably
put the wrong thing down there. But this defines what he means
by loving one another. You do it. You do it. The love that our Lord taught
us about is not just a feeling. And this church did love the
brethren. He said, you do, you do show, you love them indeed. All the churches in Macedonia,
which is where Thessalonica was or Thessalonia, They did love
the brethren all about that area, but he exhorts them yet to increase
more and more in that. That's something that there's
never enough of. You know, we might be able to
say that about ourselves. We love the brethren. We do that
indeed. We care for one another. We watch
out for one another. We defend one another. We help one another. But the exhortation from the
Lord is to increase more and more in that. We beseech you. Does that sound important to
you? Does that sound important? I feel that this is missing from
most bodies of divinity and statements of belief, the divine doctrine
of loving one another. I haven't seen that in a lot
of the big books. Doctrine of kindness being kind
and gentle to one another Look with me, please at Galatians
chapter 6 Galatians 6 1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such in one in the spirit
of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear
ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. You do not fulfill the law of
Christ by wishing people well. You fulfill the law of Christ
by doing something about it. Do you see that? Bear one another's
burdens and like that, that way, fulfill what Christ said when
he said to you, you love one another. This is my commandment
unto you as I leave you now, love one another. Bear you one
another's burdens. Verse three, for if a man think
himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceive with
himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall
he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another." We'll
see similar language in our text. Every man do work with his own
hands, and this is complimentary exhortations here. Verse five, for every man shall
bear his own burden. Verse six, let him that is taught
in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good
things. Be not deceived, God is not mocked,
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For
he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.
That he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting
life. and let us not be weary in well-doing. Abound more and more in it. Don't
become complacent in that. Don't start thinking what's the use.
Don't be weary in it. For in due season we shall reap
if we faint not. As we therefore have opportunity,
let us do good unto all. but especially unto them who
are of the household of faith. We are to prefer one another.
We're to be a blessing to one another. And I notice particularly
verse two, again, in that passage, you fulfill the law of Christ
by actually bearing one another's burdens, exerting yourself in
their favor, praying for them, Encouraging
them supplying any needs that they may have if you're able
to do that most of all pointing them to Christ We've got to always
encourage one another in the Lord He's the one who holds us
in his hand And whatever we can do is just an extension of his
care for us. It's him using us To be a blessing
to one another And there's evidence in scripture
that these saints took this exhortation to heart. In Romans 15, 25 through
27, if you want to jot these down, and in 2 Corinthians 8,
verses one and two, it talks about how those in Macedonia,
which would include the Thessalonians, were helpful. They did communicate. They did help other people in
other areas, even though they didn't really have much themselves,
but they were gifted in craftsmanship. Many of them were able to do
things with their own hands, and I think maybe that's how
they were a blessing in that. They were able to earn money
to send or whatever. But read those passages if you
have time, because it looks like that exhortation of Paul to them
to abound more and more in that, they took it to heart. It was
important to them as Paul impressed upon them how important it was
in verse 11 in our text. And that you study to be quiet
and to do your own business and to work with your own hands as
we commended you. Now this verse, I venture to say that verse 11
here probably hasn't got, relatively speaking, a whole lot of attention
over the years from different preachers. This is an exhortation
in the word of God that would be easy to miss. It'd be real
easy to pass that over. But how important and needful,
how timely, how precious. Study to be quiet. Study to live a quiet and peaceable
life. Listen to me now. I'm talking
to myself and I'm talking to everybody here. No drama. That's what that means. Study
to be quiet. To be quiet. Are you satisfied
with that, with being quiet? No turmoil. God, give us grace to quit doing
stupid things that stir up strife and division and confusion and
controversy. Just quit. It ain't that hard. You have to go out of your way
to stir up a bunch of crap. And that's what we do. We go
out of our way to do it. Stop it. That's what God is saying
this morning. Stop it. Listen to isaiah 57 19 carefully
The lord said i create the fruit of the lips peace peace to him
that is afar off and to him that is near saith the lord and i
will heal him but the wicked Are like the troubled sea when
it cannot rest Whose waters cast up mire and dirt There is no
peace saith my god to the wicked and it's their own blasted fault
They're always casting up mire and dirt. It's always something. They thrive on it. They love
it. They're not happy unless they've
caused some division or turmoil or strife somewhere with somebody.
They're a walking cloud of poison. Stop it. I'm saying that to myself
and every one of us this morning. Troubled like to trouble see
that word trouble is the opposite of the word quiet in our text And just as surely as the Lord
Jesus Christ calmed the sea with the power of his voice and his
will He can give quiet rest to the soul and he alone can do
that He alone can do that look to him for it. I Cry out for
freedom from this like you would cry out to be healed of leprosy
from the Lord. Because it is as insidious a
disease, only worse. To be a troublemaker. To be the
cause of division. And if he ever does that for
you, you'll say, what manner of man is this? It says study to be quiet. That
means be ambitious of it. Make it your ambition to shut
up. Think about what your ambitions
are this morning. Because they might be the wrong
ones. You might need to shuffle them around a little bit. This
is what God says be ambitious of. Be quiet. Be quiet. Wow, you talk about contrary
to our nature. Make it your ambition to be quiet. Do your own business. You know what that means? Stay
out of everybody else's business. That's what that means. Do your
own business. Remember what it says in 1 Peter
4, 15, let none of you suffer, and listen to this list of problems. Let none of you suffer as a murderer,
or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's
matters. It made the list, didn't it?
It made the list. And look what he said, and to
work with your own hands as we commanded you. Obedience
to that exhortation right there will go a long way toward obedience
to the other ones in that verse. Work with your own hands instead
of always looking at other people and how you can interfere and
be a nuisance to everybody else, find something to do and do it,
something productive, something constructive. That doesn't mean there aren't
hardworking people that are relentless yet in their meddling in other
people's business. There are. But it does mean that
it's always the better option to work with your own hands,
your own business, instead of meddling in other people's affairs. And it helps tremendously. This
is the antidote for that, to work with your own hands. People,
overwhelmingly, that are a problem for everybody else, have too
much time on their hands. Boredom is the cause of a lot
of evil. a lot of evil, do something about
it. Don't have time to be bored. Again, I say this to myself as
well as you. Now we see the reason for this
exhortation in 2 Thessalonians 3, if you please turn there with
me. This is, of course, the context
of our very passage this morning. This is the previous chapter. In 2 Thessalonians 3, now we
command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh
disorderly. and not after the tradition which
he received of us. For yourselves know how you ought
to follow us, for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among
you, neither did we eat any man's bread, for naught, that we might
not be chargeable to any of you. Not because we have not power,
but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us, for even
when we were with you, This we commanded you that if any would
not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some
which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command
and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they
work and eat their own bread. You see, he raised that issue
to them in chapter three. And now he's exhorting them regarding
that. Paul not only commanded them
regarding this, but he showed them what it looked like. He
was an example to them in it. And that's very important. Anybody
that speaks for God has got to show forth the things that he
preaches. This is in the qualifications of a preacher in the books, in
the letters to Timothy and other places, where the preacher is
to be an example in those things. If he can't run his own household,
for example, then how is he gonna run God's house? And things such as that. So Paul
was an example to them in this. He was willing to work, to do
whatever was necessary, He didn't insert himself into
other people's business. He took care of what the Lord
set before him for the good of everybody else, not as a burden
to them or as a grief to them. And the same goes for all those
who name the name of Christ. It wasn't just that Paul needed
to be an example, The church needs to be an example Unto the
Lord as we see in the next verse look at verse 12 That you may walk honestly toward
them that are without And that you may have lack of nothing Two reasons two simple and Honest honorable Goals This is
what we want and we see plainly how to how to reach that in To
live as unto the Lord to work as unto the Lord To stay out
of everybody else's business to not be stirring up strife
all the time To live quietly Most people, well I don't know
about, I would say most people will never be satisfied just
being quiet. Just being a quiet, just being
a normal person. Gotta make their splash and it's
always a disaster. That you may walk honestly toward
them that are without. So the first reason we're to
be this way, how we ought to walk before the Lord, is because
we do represent the Lord in this world. Walk honestly toward them
that are without. We know the exhortations in scripture
about this. We represent our Lord. When people
find out that you believe on the Lord, They will scrutinize
you. Have you experienced that in
the workplace at all? They will scrutinize you. They
will joke about it. They'll say, oh, you're supposed
to be a Christian. They'll see whatever, something stupid that
doesn't mean anything, and they'll say, oh, you're supposed to be
a Christian. If you say something, joking around even, they'll do
that. They're joking about it, but they mean it. A lot of truth
has been spoken in jest. They're watching you. They want
you to trip up. They want you because it justifies
them in hating God. They'll say, see there, there's
nothing to that. And that's scriptural. You remember
King David? Because he gave occasion to the
enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, there was great consequence.
And God called him on it. He said, your sin in 2 Samuel
12, 14, he said, I've forgiven your sin. You're not gonna die,
but because you gave great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to
blaspheme, your child is gonna die. Your child is gonna die. Something precious is gonna be
taken away from you. And so we see the importance
that God places upon that. This is all for Christ's sake.
This is salvation. This is God working in us, both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. This is walking worthy
of the calling wherewith we're called. And then secondary to that, less
important to that than that is providing for yourself. The spiritual
takes precedence over the earthly. Providing for yourself that you
may have lack of nothing is secondary to spiritual things, to how you
walk before men as a representative of the Lord. But it's not unimportant. You want to prosper in this world?
Do you want to have what you need? As the psalmist said, Lord,
give me meat convenient for me. Don't give me too much because
I'll forget you. And don't make me poor because
I'll curse you. That was a man that had some
insight into his own flesh. But just give me enough. Give
me enough. How does that happen? I've taught my children since
they were little, just do what you're supposed to do. And you
will prosper in this life, because I guarantee you, 85% of people
in this world are not doing that. Just simple, honest work, diligence,
giving a hoot. Most people don't give a hoot.
They don't care. They have no pride in what they
do. They have no regard for the Lord in what they do. That's
why even the plowing of the wicked is sin. Because they have no regard to
the Lord, who gave us the strength to plow, who gave us the plow,
who gave us a piece of earth to plow, who gave us the seed
to sow, who gives the increase to the seed that we might eat
and be blessed in this world, that we might have lack of nothing. Keep your hands on the plow. God, and listen, this is that
we may have lack of nothing, but also how can you be a blessing
to anybody else if you're always a burden to yourself? We should strive for that. that
we might have lack of nothing to the extent that we might be
able to help those who maybe don't have anything. I heard you just need a hand
at any given moment. God give us wisdom to walk as
we ought. To please him in these things. as that is revealed in the context,
what that means, and to abound more and more in
that by His grace, amen.