1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and we're
reading from verse 9. And we're only just going to
read through to verse 12. But as touching brotherly love,
ye need not that I write unto you, for ye yourselves are taught
of God to love one another. 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, and that ye study to
be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your
own hands as we commanded you, that ye may walk honestly toward
them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Today, I think you will agree
this is a very clear and simple section of the Apostle's letter
to his friends and to the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica.
Timothy has returned from spending time in the city and he tells
Paul of the faith that these young believers have, their faith
towards God and their attitude and their affection for one another. and for the apostles. We learned
this in the previous chapter where Paul says in verse six,
1 Thessalonians chapter three, verse six, Timotheus came from
you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity
and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly
to see us as we also to see you. And this sincere affection, this
genuine brotherly love that Timothy spoke of having seen amongst
the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul attributes that to the transformational
work of God the Holy Spirit in the lives and in the souls of
these young believers. Because again, we read, and I'm
reminding you here in verse 12 of the previous chapter, where
the apostle says, and the Lord make you to increase and abound
in love, one toward another and toward all men, even as we do
toward you. So the apostle saw the evidences
of love in the lives of these believers as being the evidence
of the work of God in their souls. And Paul discerns and interprets
the brotherly love exhibited by the Thessalonians and witnessed
by Timothy as the evident mark of God's grace in the lives of
these people. confirmation to the apostle of
a genuine spiritual work of conversion in their hearts. And I think
there's a little lesson for us here in this verse, in this little
section. It reminds us that all goodness,
any goodness and grace and truth and spiritual wisdom that we
possess is God's gift to us and has, as its origin and as its
source, the work of God and the instruction of God in our lives. Paul says elsewhere, we are his
workmanship. And yet, too, the presence of
these gifts in an individual's life is an indication of grace
and a testimony to salvation and an evidence of the Spirit's
fruitfulness in the life of a believer. And so we discover in Scripture
that especially in the New Testament, that especially brotherly love
is held forth as a principal example and evidence of God's
work in the life of a believer. The Lord tells his disciples
in John 13, verse 35, And this is what the apostle is speaking
about. But it's interesting that he
says in verse nine, the first verse that we read together,
as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you. Now he's not saying that there's
no value or usefulness in writing about love and writing about
brotherly love or talking about Christian love. Indeed, he continues
to speak about it and he does so elsewhere as do the other
apostolic writers, Peter and James and John. And as we've
seen, so too did the Saviour himself. So it's not that there's
no need to speak about brotherly love or to write about it, talk
about it, think about it, but what Paul is saying It's what
I trust we all know, and that is that we don't possess this
love naturally, or get it by ourselves, or develop it by our
own efforts. But rather, the apostle says,
ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. so that
brotherly love is a spiritual grace and it, with all spiritual
graces, is brought to us and taught to us by a spiritual work
of God in a man or in a woman's soul. Elsewhere the apostle says
love or brotherly love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit Love to God,
love to Jesus Christ, and love to one another in the body of
Christ is a fruit of the Spirit. And this is the point, I think,
that believers are taught of God to love one another, because
they are taught of God what it is to be united to one another
in the body of Christ. It's a much bigger thing than
simply having just an emotional response to someone. It's a deep-rooted
and lively experience of empathy and sympathy and affection and
care for one another and the needs of one another. During
the Lord's earthly ministry, our Saviour told the disciples,
his disciples, in John chapter 6 and 44, he says, No man can
come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him,
and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the
prophets and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. Here's this little phrase again,
taught of God. they shall be taught of God.
Now the Lord's reference there in John 6 to the prophets is,
maybe we shouldn't be surprised, is to Isaiah. And Isaiah writes
in chapter 54, verse 13, and all thy children shall be taught
of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. So the Lord was quoting Isaiah. And this is talking about a sinner's
effectual call to grace. It's talking about the new birth.
It's talking about the transformation of life that comes with spiritual
conversion. And all the children shall be
taught of God, says Christ. All the children shall be taught
of God. Now this does not deny that there
is teaching from scripture or that there is teaching from the
apostles or teaching from preachers and pastors. God uses means to
teach his church and to teach his people. It does, however,
acknowledge God to be the first cause in all spiritual wisdom
and knowledge. He creates spiritual life. He calls forth spiritual understanding. And he implants in his children
a teachable spirit capable and desirous to learn more about
the Lord Jesus Christ. So that all who feel the guilt
of sin, all who see their need of forgiveness, are taught those
things of God. And being taught of God, they
come to Christ for salvation. And they do so obediently upon
hearing the gospel. Though they never knew it before,
now they see their need of Christ. And they come seeking forgiveness
from Him. They don't have to be convinced,
they're willing, even desperate. Then having discovered peace
with God by the way of the cross, these quickened converted souls
discover that they have new desires and new motivations. They desire
to show gratitude from a heart full of praise. They desire to
live for Christ like they never did before. and this is the effect
of being taught of God. So that this divine education
brings with it witnesses and evidences and fruit of the Spirit. We're taught forgiveness, having
been forgiven by God. We're taught to live peaceably
because peace is the great success of the cross. And we're taught
love because we see love in the heart of God toward us, in the
motivation of Christ suffering for us, and in the Holy Spirit
dwelling in us. In regeneration and conversion,
the Holy Spirit writes the law of love upon our heart so that
we love Him who first loved us. And brotherly love for one another
in those who are members of Christ's body is a lively evidence of
indwelling grace. And it's reinforced, it's enhanced,
it's stirred up the more we learn of Christ. So that the more we
hear the Gospel, the more we understand of the Gospel and
of Christ's work in the Gospel, and the more the Holy Spirit
conforms us to the image of Christ in the Gospel, so we grow in
grace and in the exemplification and the evidence of these graces
in our lives and our souls. We discover in the Gospel lessons
concerning the relationship that we have with all who, like us,
are members together in the body of Christ. Because we realise
that we've been redeemed by the same blood, and that we are heirs
of the same glory, that we've been regenerated by the same
Spirit, so that our souls are one in Christ. And being so,
there can be no division except where we allow the devil in the
flesh to create one. We have love and compassion and
empathy one for another. And the sorrow or the happiness,
the success or the disappointments which one has, we all share in. because we are members of one
body and we come to feel each other's pleasure and we come
to feel each other's pain. Paul speaks in Romans chapter
12 about rejoicing with them that do rejoice and weeping with
them that weep. And sometimes maybe we wonder
why believers have so much personal hardship in their lives. Is it
not that through these personal sufferings and trials and learning
experiences that we learn to lean on the Lord in order that
we might have more love and more empathy for our brothers and
sisters who are going through similar experiences? These affections that we have,
this brotherly love, it's not imposed by legal obligation,
but it arises with the spontaneity of spiritual life, and it is
deepened by Christian experience. If Paul had had to instruct or
command the Thessalonians to love their brethren in Christ,
there would have been something terribly wrong But when we're
taught of God, we love God and we love God's people. And this
principle of being taught of God extended also to other parts
of these believers' lives. For example, living peaceably
with those around us, working diligently to provide for our
families and to support the ministry of the Gospel. Serving honestly
in our communities, walking uprightly. before men so that the reputation
of the Church and the people of God cannot be impugned with
any legitimacy by Christ's enemies and ours. There is, I think,
something very delightful in the simplicity and the ease with
which the Apostle directs these Thessalonian brethren. Here is
no heavy yoke of Jewish law and ritual. Here, rather, to these
new Gentile believers, these first converts in Europe, was
teaching that a believer's conduct flows not from imposed duty,
but from gratitude, from the example of Christ, the learning
of Christ, and the honouring of Christ in our lives. How blessed
we are that God has taught us of himself, that Christ has redeemed
us for himself, and that the Holy Spirit has called us to
himself. When so many go on in ignorance
of spiritual things in this life and in this world, how blessed
we are to have been taught of God. Amen.