1 Thessalonians 4:1-2 - Homilies By B.c. Caffin

ST . PAUL 'S AFFECTIONATE IMPORTUNITY .

1. He beseeches. He has finished the personal part of his letter; he has told them of his love, his constant remembrance of them, his prayers for them, his thanksgiving; he has reminded them of the close spiritual ties which bound them to him. Now he beseeches them to persevere. He knows the exceeding difficulty of maintaining a Christian life in this sinful world; he knows the momentous issues that depend on perseverance; he loves his converts with an intense love; therefore he beseeches. He uses all means of persuasion in turns. Now he commands, now he beseeches. Sometimes entreaty is more prevailing than commandment, gentleness than authority. No qualities are more important in the work of the ministry than a genuine love for souls, a real and evident anxiety for the spiritual welfare of our people. St. Paul beseeches; it is an example to all Christian ministers.

2. He exhorts them in the Lord Jesus. Christian people need all manner of encouragement, comfort, exhortation. That exhortation prevails which is in the Lord Jesus. His presence, his grace, himself, is the sphere of the Christian's spiritual activity. He who lives habitually in "that fellowship which is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ," is best able to lead others to God and heaven. For he who hath the Son hath life. The Lord Jesus is the Life; and he who hath that life himself, hath from the life that abideth in him the warmth, the fervor, the holy enthusiasm, without which religious exhortation has no power, no reality. "In the Lord Jesus." Mark how frequently those words, "in Christ," "in the Lord," are on the lips of St. Paul. It is a constant formula with him. But it is a formula full of life, full of holy meaning. "Not I, Christ liveth in me."

3. He reminds them of his former teaching. He had given them a charge, and that through the Lord Jesus. He had received of the Lord that which he delivered unto them. The commandments were not his; they were the commandments of Christ. He had received them from Christ; and through Christ's appointment, guidance, presence, he delivered them to the Thessalonians. He appeals to their recollection. They knew them; they had the knowledge; that knowledge involves a deep and solemn responsibility. The Lord tells us in the Gospel of the condemnation that hangs over the careless servant who knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will. Hence the force of the apostle's words, "Ye know." Much had been given to them, much would be required. It is a warning to be always remembered, to be urged constantly upon ourselves, upon those who are brought in any way under our influence. "Ye know." Knowledge, if it issue in obedience, is exceeding precious; knowledge without obedience involves an awful danger. "Ye know;" therefore we must use that knowledge, that precious talent entrusted to our keeping. The tremendous alternative lies before us—the blessed words, "Welt done!" or the sentence that fills the heart with shuddering awe, "Thou wicked and slothful servant!"

4. He urges them to continual progress. He had taught them how to walk and to please God. The subject of his practical teaching was how to walk, not how to talk. They must walk in the Spirit, he had told them; their daily life in all its details and circumstances must be guided by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. "Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth," is the key-note of the true Christian life. Thus living they would please God. To please God is the highest Christian ambition; the consciousness of pleasing him is the highest Christian joy. But walking implies progress. Standing still is dangerous; it must issue in backsliding. They must go on from strength to strength; they must forget those things that are behind, and press on to those that are before. The grace of God abounds; it is without limit. He giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not. So must the Christian abound more and more in the exercise of the graces communicated to him by God; he must work the works of righteousness with ever-increasing energy, as the grace of God more and more fills his heart.

LESSONS.

1. Do all things in the Name of the Lord Jesus; learn by experience the meaning of those deep words, "in the Lord."

2. Remember that knowledge implies responsibility.

3. Strive to maintain continual progress in all Christian graces, in faith, hope, love, humility, patience.—B.C.C.

1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 - The law of purity.

I. PURITY OF HEART .

1. The will of God the rule of the Christian life. To please God is the strongest desire of the true Christian; and we please him by obedience. The Lord delighteth not in outward observances as he doth in "obeying the voice of the Lord." The Christian's prayer is, "Thy will be done." The standard of that obedience is the obedience of the angels in heaven. It is above our reach; but it is what we are bidden to aim at, what we are told to pray for in our daily prayers. It should be the effort of our lives to lift ourselves up, by the grace of God assisting us, nearer and nearer to that heavenly rule. Without that grace we are helpless; but "I can do all things," says St. Paul, "through him that strengtheneth me."

2. The will of God is our sanctification. He willeth that all men should be saved; but salvation is possible only through sanctification; for without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Sanctification is the separation from all that is evil, the entire consecration of the whole man to the service of God, the gradual conforming of the human will to the blessed will of God. Christ is our Sanctification. "He of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification." Faith brings us near to him, and he becomes our Righteousness; then the work of sanctification begins. It is a progressive work, slow and gradual. The more the believer grows in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more does that blessed knowledge exert its hallowing power. The beauty of holiness, the sweetness of fellowship with God, the glories of his coming kingdom, are more and more deeply felt. Then, when the affections are set upon things above, and the heart's love is centered upon God, the soul reacheth forth after Christ, longing above all things to be like him, yearning after holiness with a strong, intense desire, eagerly striving to purge itself from the defilement of sin, and to advance ever onwards in the work of sanctification; and that because the Lord. Jesus Christ dwelleth there himself, and the pulses of his love beat in the converted heart. He is our Sanctification. He abideth in his people's heart by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All holy desires, all good counsels, all just works, come from him—from his inspiring, elevating present. This is the will of God; this is what God would have us to be. It is a very high and heavenly state; yet in its various degrees it must be by the grace of God within our reach. For he is the God of truth; his promises are not deceitful; his commandments do not mock us with a standard impossible of attainment.

II. PURITY OF LIFE .

1. Chastity. The apostle is writing to converts who but a short time before had been heathens. It was necessary to speak very plainly and solemnly on this subject; for the heathen commonly regarded that impurity, which is so great a sin in the sight of God, almost as a thing indifferent. But the will of God is our sanctification, and sanctification involves purity. Without sanctification we cannot see the Lord; but the pure in heart shall see him. God is light; in him is no darkness at all. There is something awful in the stainless purity of the starry heavens. As we gaze into them, we feel ourselves oppressed with an overwhelming sense of our own uncleanness. It is a parable of the ineffable purity of God. In his sight the heavens are not clean. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil; therefore only the pure in heart can see his face. That inner purity covers the whole spiritual life. It implies freedom from all lower motives—all that is selfish, earthly, false, hypocritical; it is that transparency of character which flows from the consciousness of the perpetual presence of God. But that inner purity, which is so large an element in sanctification, involves the perfect purity of the outward life. Religion is not morality, but it cannot exist without morality. It transcends morality, but it implies it. This was not the teaching of the religion which the Thessalonians had abandoned. That admitted immorality. Their very gods were immoral. They were served, not by purity of life, but by sacrifices and outward rites often leading to impurity. Hence the urgency of the apostle's appeal Amid the evil surroundings of a heathen town, living in an atmosphere of depraved public opinion, new converts were exposed to constant and great dangers. St. Paul reminds them that holiness, without which there is no salvation, is impossible without chastity. Fornication is not, what they once deemed it, a thing indifferent. It is an awful sin against God. Christianity has taught us this. We know it well. We wonder at the light way in which heathen writers speak of abominations which now we shrink from naming. But the sin exists still in terrible strength. It hides itself, indeed; it walketh in the darkness; Christianity has driven it there. But still, alas! it slays its thousands and its ten thousands. It cuts a soul away from God with a fearful rapidity. It fills the man with impure images, unholy desires. It drives out of the heart the thought of God. The soul that is tainted with this foul leprosy cannot pray. It cannot endure the thought of the presence of God in his heart-searching nearness, in his awful purity. Impurity destroys the possibility of the slightest approach to that sanctification without which we cannot see God. Hence the necessity of the apostle's earnest words, "The will of God is your sanctification; and there can be no sanctification if ye live in uncleanness."

2. Honor. The unclean life of the heathen cities was full of sin and shame. The Christian life is truly honorable. The Christian's body is a holy thing. It has been dedicated to God. It is "for the Lord" ( 1 Corinthians 6:13 ). The Christian must acquire a mastery over it in honor. He must yield his "members as instruments of righteousness unto God." The Christian husband must give honor to his wife. Christian marriage must be honorable, for it is a parable of the mystical union that is betwixt Christ and his Church. The life of holiness and purity is a thing to be honored. Those who honor holiness honor God, who is the most holy One, the one Fountain of holiness.

3. The knowledge of God. The heathens knew not God. They might have known him. He had manifested in the works of creation his eternal power and Godhead. But they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. Their false gods resembled men, not only in their form, but also in their sins and uncleanness. Men had framed a conception of Deity from their own corrupt nature, and that conception reacted powerfully upon their character. Their gods were like them, and they were like their gods. The Thessalonian Christians had learned a holier knowledge. They must not live like the heathen, who knew not the true and living God. Their knowledge must act upon their life. They must be pure.

4. Impurity is a sin against man. "Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." Impure desires assume the form of love; uncleanness usurps and degrades the sacred name of love. The sensual man ruins in body and in soul those whom he professes to love. He uses words of tenderness. He is the most cruel, the deadliest enemy in his wicked selfishness. He cares not for the nearest and holiest ties. He sins against the sanctity of matrimony. He brings misery upon families. Seeking only the gratification of his own wicked lust, he transgresses and wrongs his brethren. But his sin will bring swift punishment upon him. The Lord is the Avenger in all such things. He called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. Sanctification is the very sphere in which the new life moves and energizes. Uncleanness is utterly alien to it. The Lord who called us in sanctification will punish with that awful vengeance which belongeth to him all who for their wicked pleasure sin against their brethren.

5. It is a sin against God. God hath given us his Holy Spirit. He hath given that great gift "unto you," the apostle says—to you Thessalonians. He gave it once, he is giving it still. It is this great fact which makes uncleanness in Christians a sin of such exceeding awfulness. Their bodies are the temples of God the Holy Ghost. To bring impure thought into that most sacred presence, to defile that body which he has taken to be his Church and shrine, is an outrage, an insult to that Divine Majesty. Such a man hath done despite to the Spirit of grace. Of what punishment shall he be thought worthy? The Spirit of purity cannot abide in an impure heart. He will depart, as he once departed from Saul. There are awful things in Holy Scripture said of those who resist the Holy Ghost, who will not listen to his still small voice speaking in the heart, but continue to vex him by willful and persistent disobedience, till at last his voice is heard no more, and his gracious influences are quenched. It is enough to fill the thoughtful Christian with shuddering awe when he reflects on that sanctification which the Word of God requires, and contrasts it with the fearful prevalence of sins of impurity.

LESSONS .

1. Long after holiness, pray for it, struggle for it with the deepest yearnings of the heart, the most earnest efforts of the life.

2. Flee from the slightest touch of impurity—the thought, the look, the word. It is a deadly poison, a loathsome serpent; it stingeth unto death.

3. Remember God the Holy Ghost dwells in the Christian's heart. Keep thyself pure.—B.C.C.

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 - The law of love.

I. ON ITS POSITIVE SIDE .

1. It is taught by God. God is love, and love is of God. The Church of God is the school of love. God himself is the great Teacher. He teaches us by his own example. "So God loved the world, he gave his only Son;" " The Son of God loved me, and gave himself for me." The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ reveals to us the blessed love of God. God the Holy Ghost teaches his people to comprehend with all saints what is the length, and breadth, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. He shows us something of his own blessed love, and bids us learn of him. "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you." We are his disciples, his pupils; we learn of him. What should we learn, if we learn not to love? It is the great task of life. Our lives are wasted if we have not learned that holiest lesson before we die; for heaven is the home of love. There is no place there for the soul that hath not learned to love. God is the Teacher. He had taught the Thessalonians. They did love the brethren. They needed not, the apostle says in his tenderness, a human teacher.

2. Yet St. Paul exhorts them. For love is a debt which is never fully paid. The great lesson of love is never fully learned. We are dull scholars. Our natural selfishness keeps us back. We need every incentive, every help. There must be a continual growth. To stand still is to lose ground. We must urge ourselves, we must urge others, to abound more and more. The Lord Jesus is our Example. " As I have loved you," he says. The depth, the purity of that holiest love is altogether above us, out of our reach; we cannot attain unto it. We see its effects in the lives of his saints. We know how the love of Christ constrained the holy apostle St. Paul to live no longer to himself, but to him who died for him and rose again. We despair of ever reaching that high degree of holy love; but it must be the strongest yearning of our hearts to advance continually, to abound more and more.

II. ON ITS NEGATIVE SIDE .

1. Christian ambition. Ambition (filotimi&a;) is a common word in Greek ethics and history, a prominent characteristic of Greek political life. There is a Christian ambition; its object is not to be first in the arena of political strife, but to preach the gospel, to please God, to live a quiet, holy life (compare in the Greek, Romans 15:20 ; 2 Corinthians 5:9 ). Political filotimi&a;, Bengel says, blushes to be quiet. The Greeks were eager, bustling, restless, each longing to be first. The apostle seeks to turn the ambition of the Thessalonians into another channel. Their ambition should be to be quiet—to keep themselves free, as far as might be, from political excitement and social rivalry, that they might cultivate the inner life of love and peace and com-reunion with God. Love would lead them to abstain from meddling with other men's matters—to do their own duty in the station where God had called them. Love would keep them free from envy and party spirit, and help them to maintain a current of quiet, peaceful thought within their souls.

2. Christian dignity. Love would keep them from everything that might bring the gospel into discredit. The Christian has duties towards those who are without. His light must shine before men, that they may be led to glorify him from whom the light cometh. The life of the Thessalonian Christians must be honest, becoming. The apostle insists on the dignity of honest labor. It was little regarded. Educated Greeks and Romans spoke of it as coarse and vulgar. The Lord Jesus worked with his hands, so did St. Paul. Christianity has invested the life of industry with a grace of its own. St. Paul here uses the same word in connection with honest labor which in the Acts of the Apostles is employed to designate the ladies of rank at Beraea, the "honorable women" who believed. The Christian must be careful to use words in their true sense. It is not wealth or rank that is truly respectable, but virtue and holiness. Thus living, thus laboring, they would have need of nothing; rather, perhaps, of no man. They would attain that honorable independence which enables one to "look the whole world in the face, for he owes not any man."

LESSONS .

1. Covet earnestly the best gifts; pray for growth in charity.

2. Let your ambition be a Christian ambition; try to be first in humility, first in self-sacrifice, first in the quiet discharge of daily duties.

3. Never despise labor; it was the lot of the Lord Jesus; it has its own moral beauty and dignity.—B.C.C.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - The resurrection.

I. COMFORT FOR THE SORROWING .

1. The dead in Christ sleep. The Lord Jesus Christ hath abolished death; he has changed it into sleep. "She is not dead, but sleepeth," he said of the little daughter of Jairus. The sting of death is sin, but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. The Lord died and rose again. He died; he encountered the king of terrors in all his awful power; but by his death he hath abolished death to his saints. Stephen fell asleep under the crushing shower of stones. So is it with believers now; they are laid to sleep through Jesus. Through his atonement, through his loving care, through his gracious presence, death is but sleep to them. They die in the Lord; they rest from their labors. They are not unconscious; they do not "sleep idly," for they are blessed; they are "with the Lord, which is far better." Yet that quiet rest of the holy dead in Paradise is as a peaceful slumber compared with the entrancing joy of the glorious resurrection. Yes, they sleep; they have not yet attained unto that perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul which shall be theirs in God's everlasting glory. There the redeemed of the Lord, perfected in strength and gladness, entranced in the contemplation of the beauty of the Lord, the beatific vision, need rest no longer. "They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." But now they rest. They are in peace; they are happy, for they are with Christ.

2. Therefore the Christian ' s sorrow is full of hope. We must sorrow when our loved ones fall from our side. The Lord wept over the grave of Lazarus. Not to sorrow would be the hard stern temper of stoicism. The Christian sorrows over the grave, but it is a sorrow chastened by faith, cheered by hope. The heathen might envy the very flowers of the field. " They die, indeed, but it is to spring up again with renewed life and beauty; while man, when he dieth, sleepeth on for ever—a still, silent sleep; he waketh nevermore." Such was the wailing of the heathen poet. It is not so with the Christian. He finds comfort himself, he comforts others, with the blessed words of Holy Scripture. His sorrow is not hopeless, like that of the heathen: he looks for a happy meeting in that blessed place where there is "no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying."

3. That hope springs out of faith. We believe that Jesus died and rose again. The resurrection of Christ is the earnest of our resurrection. He is the Firstfruits, the First-begotten from the dead; they that are his shall follow him. The resurrection of Christ was one principal topic of the apostolic preaching; it is now one of the most precious articles of the Christian faith, the very center of our most cherished hopes. He was seen by many, by Mary Magdalene, by the other holy women, by the apostles, by more than five hundred brethren at once. "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

II. THE COMING OF THE LORD .

1. Its solemn accompaniments. He shall come, the Lord Jesus himself, with his holy angels. He shall descend from heaven with a shout. His voice will pierce through the universe; all they that are in the graves shall hear it. The trumpet shall sound. The voice of the trumpet, exceeding loud, filled the people of Israel with trembling at Mount Sinai. More awful by far will be the voice of the archangel and the trump of God that wakes the dead. What that trumpet may be we cannot tell; but sound it will, "for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord."

2. Its end and purpose. The dead in Christ shall rise first. They shall hear his voice, though they have lain in their graves, some of them, almost from the beginning. They shall come forth, and that first. Then follows the assumption of the living. Those who are found alive, who have not entered into the deep, quiet rest of Paradise, shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. We shall meet one another; we shall meet him; we shall be for ever with him. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

LESSONS .

1. Let sorrow in bereavement be Christian sorrow, softened by faith and hope.

2. The holy dead are at rest. Do not call them "poor;" they are blessed.

3. Let us strive to walk with God now, that we may be ever with the Lord.—B.C.C.