1 Thessalonians 4:1-6 NIV As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own bodyin a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.
MSG. “1-3 One final word, friends. We ask you – urge is more like it—that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance. You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus. God wants you to live a pure life. Keep yourselves from sexual promiscuity. 4-5 Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body, not abusing it, as is so common among those who know nothing of God. 6Don’t run roughshod over the concerns of your brothers and sisters. Their concerns are God’s concerns, and He will take care of them.”
Observation
Like Ephesis and Corinth, Thessalonika (now known as Saloniki) was an important seaport on a major trade route between Rome and the East. The culture of the city was influenced by its location, its importance, its influence, its cosmopolitan population, its Roman occupiers. There was a synagogue in the city, but the great majority of the people would have practiced a pagan religion, such as adopting and worshipping the Roman pantheon of gods. Christianity was seen as heretical by religious Jews, sometimes seditious by Rome and foolishly priggish by the secular culture. Many pagan religions either overlooked or condoned promiscuity by actually including sex acts with “Vestal Virgins” in their worship practices.
Paul is exhorting the new Christians to revolutionize their understanding of how to please God, even in the face of cultural and religious persecution – whether they are converted Jews or pagans, whether they previously worshipped another religion, many gods or secular culture (money, power, accomplishment). Paul exhorts them to live a pure life in order “to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance.” Their faithfulness to a living, spirited dance, in the face of persecution and regardless of appearances or immediate results, planted the seed for worldwide generations of redemptions to follow.
Impact on Me
Paul’s exhortation to the believers in Thessalonika rings as true to me today as it did to the believers in the 1st century. San Diego is also “an important seaport on a major trade route” and home to many nationalities, cultures, and religions, people brought here on military orders, for research or education, as refugees seeking an environment for freedom and an opportunity for success, a warmer climate or ?? The secular culture in which I live worships status, possessions, winning, “Mother Nature” and all forms of created things, physical pleasures, expediency and convenience. How are these challenges (false gods, idols) any different than the ones faced by those early Christians?
How do I need to revolutionize my thinking regarding the common cultural and religious practices of my own? Where does my life need to be purified and am I willing to face persecution or disfavor to do so? The great and glorious news is that the Holy Spirit is not discouraged by my failures or fears regarding opposition or persecution (He has dealt with humans like me then and now), so I can be encouraged and choose in Christ a living spirited dance of following, loving and serving Him, expecting the same results of my brothers and sisters of so long ago.
Devotion
Lord, I submit myself to You. Take me in Your arms and teach me to live 24/7 that spirited dance of joyful worship to You. May my heart and soul hunger to draw others into the same dance, even if they are currently dancing to the Enemy’s tune or they have allowed all music and light to fade away into darkness (hopelessness, anger, bitterness, apostasy, worshipping created things). When I become distracted or discouraged by the circumstances, my inadequacies, or the immensity of the task, draw my eyes back to You so my hope and faith will rise as I return the accomplishment of the results to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray.
Pressing On In His Footsteps 