How to Live

1 Thessalonians 4:1 As for other mattes, 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.

Our culture is one that rebels against anyone telling another person what to do. But what has shifted recently is that now parts of the cultural landscape have been made off limits by a minority voice. They have chosen what can and can’t be said in the public square. They have deemed those who would dare speak of these forbidden areas ‘racists’ with all the cultural baggage that they have attached to that term.

Part of what I find so disturbing in this effort to silence portions of our society is that those doing the silencing have a value system that is antithetically opposed to the value system of the Scriptures. If we accept their definitions and adhere to their rules regarding ‘off limits’ topics, then we will be unable to speak about the hope the Gospel can bring. We will be silenced.

That is because the Gospel does have standards of conduct, deeming some conduct to be out of bounds for those who claim Jesus as Lord. Part of the Gospel message requires us to see our own sinfulness in order to fully understand the depths of the sacrifice Christ made for us. But if we can’t name the depths of that sin, then there is no sin from which we need to be saved.

If all aberrant behavior is deemed acceptable, which is what is happening in our society, then the standards of the Scriptures get deemed unacceptable and banned from the public square. If it only stopped with banning the negative, sinful labels, the Gospel could continue to be proclaimed. But what is also being banned is the articulation of what holy living looks like, for some would get triggered with the mention of a standard.

But there is a standard. There are things that Paul instructed these first century believers which are accepted holy behavior. This behavior pleases God. So the other side of this that there are behaviors which don’t fit this category of behavior that pleases God.

Paul asked and urged them to live in line with his teaching on holy living in an ever-increasing manner. He didn’t want them to get comfortable at any stage of their growth. He wanted them to continue modeling and seeking behavior that pleased God.

There are some lists of behaviors in the New Testament which lay out what behaviors are not acceptable. I think that is a place to start. There will always be some behaviors about which the LORD hasn’t spoken over which we might disagree. But we can agree on those that are specifically spelled out. We can agree to pursue these in our own lives.

We are supposed to be the fragrance of life to a perishing world. Living in a way that pleases God brings us closer to that goal. We do it, not to gain a standing with God, but because we already have a standing with God. We desire to live to please God of of a grateful heart for all He has done for us.