Milo

TO KNOW CHRIST
Philippians 3

“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8).

Power for living as well as salvation is to be found in Christ alone.

Overview
Paul had abandoned confidence in his own works (3:1–6) to trust Christ completely (vv. 7–9) and spiritual enablement (vv. 10–11). All mature believers will follow Paul’s example and press toward this goal (vv. 12–17), eagerly awaiting Christ’s return and our transformation (vv. 18–21).

Understanding the Text
“Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord!” Phil. 3:1 This is not the last thought Paul intended to share. It is instead the ultimate thought.
Paul had already noted many sources of joy for the Christian life. We find joy in fellowship with others whom we love (1:4). We find joy in sharing the Gospel (v. 18). We find joy in our unity with other believers (2:2). Yet the final, the ultimate joy, which Paul expressed in Philippians 3, is found in Christ Himself.
It is this joy, which is available to you and me always, that Paul explored in this very personal chapter of Philippians.

“Put no confidence in the flesh” Phil. 3:2–4. Paul began by warning against the Judaizers. These men of Jewish extraction and pharisaical tendency visited all the churches Paul founded, and tried to convince the believers that they must become Jews to be Christians. They must accept circumcision, and keep the many regulations of the Old Testament, as interpreted by tradition.
Paul angrily called these men evil, mere “mutilators of the flesh.” In focusing the attention of believers on works, they drew attention away from Christ.
This is the first clue to finding the Christian’s ultimate source of joy. Don’t count on what you have done, are doing, or will do. Count only on what Christ did.
Watchman Nee, the great Chinese evangelist and writer on the spiritual life, has rightly said, “Christianity is a queer business. If at the outset we try to do anything, we get nothing; if we seek to attain something, we miss everything. For Christianity begins not with a big DO, but with a big DONE.”
Only by continuing to rely on Christ and what He has done, only by abandoning all reliance on our own works, can we go on in the Christian life or experience joy. (See DEVOTIONAL.)

“Somehow, to attain to the resurrection of the dead” Phil. 3:10–11. Verse 11 has confused some, who assume Paul was speaking about the future resurrection of his own body. But verse 10 makes it clear Paul was speaking about knowing Christ now, and experiencing now the power of His resurrection.
Paul spoke in the same vein in Romans 8:11: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.” Thus Romans identifies the source of power for Christian living. Philippians 3:10–11 now goes on to tell us how to tap this source of power. Paul’s explanation? Become “like Christ in His death.”
The prescription is explained in the verses above. We abandon any confidence we had in the flesh. We confess our lifeless state, and the utter impossibility of any spiritual achievement. As the dead body of Christ was buried, so we bury the rubbish we once considered our righteousness.
Then, standing by the grave of self, we hear Christ’s invitation to share His sufferings and experience the power of His resurrection.

“I press on toward the goal” Phil. 3:12–14. Don’t get the idea that the Christian life is passive. We do stop trying. But we do not stop pressing on.
This may be a paradox, but it is not a contradiction. What we put behind us is self-effort, and the notion that anything we can do in ourselves can possibly please or be of service to the Lord. What we hold out before us is the fact that, here on earth, we are Christ’s hands and feet. We are His body now, the presence He still maintains in the world of men. It is that “for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” It is that that you and I prize most as we journey heavenward.
It’s not that we will ever perfectly express Christ to others. But as we rely completely on Him to work through us, and as we commit ourselves to do God’s will, we will experience something of resurrection power and joy today.

“Our citizenship is in heaven” Phil. 3:17–20a. A citizen owes allegiance to the laws and rulers of his nation. Paul closed this section of Philippians by calling on us to remember what it means to be united to Jesus in His death and resurrection. We owe no allegiance to our old way of life. Those who even try to be good and so merit God’s favor are enemies of the Cross, which stands stark and bare as a symbol of man’s utter sinfulness.
We who have heard the message of the Cross, are to keep on hearing it in each of our todays. It tells us that what man cannot do, God has done. And God will continue to do, in you and in me.

“We eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” Phil. 3:20b-21. Earlier Paul wrote, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect” (v. 12). Those who expect the spiritual life to be one of sudden transformation, or instantaneous perfection, are sure to be disappointed. God still has only our mortal bodies to work with, and all too often lacks even our cooperation! But despite our imperfection, God’s power does flow in us and through us. In our weakness we know something of His strengthening power.
No wonder Paul said we wait eagerly for Jesus to return. Then, what we experience imperfectly now will be fully ours. When Jesus returns, “He will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body” (v. 21). Then at last we will realize to the full “the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus” our Lord (v. 8).

DEVOTIONAL
A Vote of No Confidence
(Phil. 3:4–11)
She was an older lady, well-dressed, clearly upper class. She’d stopped to watch as I stood on a street evangelist’s stepladder outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York to give my “word of testimony.” Perhaps it was the novelty of seeing one of Uncle Sam’s sailors, in uniform, preaching on the street. Perhaps it was just curiosity.
After I got down I talked with her. She thought that Jesus was all right for some people. Certainly the bums on the bowery needed something. But she was not only religious, she was a truly good person. She had never done anything mean or petty, and while others might need Jesus, she most assuredly did not.
Often the hardest people to reach with the Gospel are those who truly have tried to live good lives, and by all appearances have succeeded! Paul was one of those people, and his credentials were far superior to any you or I might muster. Or even that lady I met so briefly on the street over 35 years ago.
But Paul did something with his credentials that you and I must do with ours. We have to recognize them not as advantages, but liabilities! If we for a moment rely on them, or think that they commend us to God, they replace to that extent our confidence in Christ, and thus weaken us spiritually.
It may seem strange, but the truly wicked have a great advantage over the good when they become Christians. John Newton, for instance, had a great advantage over you and me. He went to sea early in life, and quickly became a vile, drunken, blasphemous, and violent man. And a slave trader. Later, when Newton was converted, he never lost his sense of the dark pit from which he had been rescued, or an awareness of his own corrupt nature.
So don’t take comfort in the “good” life you may have lived before your conversion. Or even in your honest efforts to do well since. Like the Apostle Paul, consider such advantages to be liabilities. Let your heart be filled with the “surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus.” Cloak yourself in the righteousness that comes from Him by faith, and rely on His resurrection power to express itself through you and your life.

Personal Application
The Christian life is resurrection life. But before you can rise again, you must die to self.

Quotable
“This Christ life is simply turning the little shop of life, so woefully perplexing, over to another. Christ becomes owner, manager, overseer; His is the responsibility, the upkeep. Your part is to be a faithful clerk, steward of the grace of God. You are to trust the management to Him and obey orders; take off the shelves anything displeasing, add anything He commands. But He is also your elder brother and His love takes out all the worry, fever, and tension. And one day, if you have been faithful over a few things, He will give you a heavenly shop in the city of the King!”—Charles H. Robinson

HUMILITY INCARNATE
Philippians 2

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing” (Phil. 2:5–7).

The way to be exalted is still, be humble.

Overview
A humble concern for others (2:1–4) mimics the humility displayed by Christ (vv. 5–11), which leads to blameless and pure lives (vv. 12–18). Paul commended two men he was about to send to Philippi (2:19–30).

Understanding the Text
“If you have any encouragement” Phil. 2:1. The Greek language has several different words and constructions that we render “if” in English. The “if” in Philippians 2:1 assumes the condition is already fulfilled, and means “since.”
So what Paul was saying is, since you are united with Christ, and since you find comfort in His love, and since you share in God’s Spirit.
How well Paul understood God. Paul was about to appeal to his friends in Philippi to commit to a more humble, caring lifestyle. In the world, people trying to influence others might say, “If you will do this, then I will do something for you.” But not God, and not Paul! Instead Paul reminded his readers of how God had poured out His grace on them, and then said, “Since you have been so blessed, take the step of obedience.”
There’s no hint of threat in our relationship with God. There’s no hint of bribery. God won’t take our blessings away, and there is no need to add to them! Paul simply reminds us of what God has already done for us, and asks us, out of gratitude, to respond appropriately to God.
The next time you face a difficult choice, remember all God has given you so freely. As an expression of thanks, choose just as freely to do what will please Him.

“Like-minded, having the same love” Phil. 2:2–4. Two themes found throughout the New Testament letters are woven together here. One is unity: that common life shared by those who constitute Christ’s church, and who achieve spirituality only when the bond between members is close and warm. The other is humility: that basic attitude toward ourselves and others that is required for unity to exist.
Every once in a while I see a magazine on a newsstand featuring a new self-test: “How well do you understand your spouse?” “What kind of a lover are you?” “Check your parenting skills!” Well, the Apostle Paul has given us a simple self-test here on an even more important question. “How do you rate in your relationship with other Christians?”
Part of the test measures the community of which you’re a part. Are you “like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose”? (v. 2) Part of the test measures your personal attitudes. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. . . . Look not only to your interests, but also to the interests of others” (vv. 3–4).
If the church you belong to fails the first part of the test, don’t be discouraged. If you pass the second part, God can use you to change your church!

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” Phil. 2:5. Christ is our Saviour, plus. There are many words we might tack on behind that “plus.” He is our Saviour, plus our Lord. He is our Saviour, plus our High Priest. But here, as in Ephesians 5:1 and other passages, Paul reminds us that Jesus is our Saviour, plus our example. We are to be like Jesus, not just in the way we act, but in our innermost values and attitudes toward life.
This is why Paul stressed humility. It’s not enough to act interested in others. We must be interested in others. It’s not enough to act unselfishly. We must be free of “selfishness and vain conceit.”
This would be an impossible task if it weren’t for one wonderful reality. God has already acted to make possible everything He asks of us! No wonder Paul began by saying, “Since you are united with Christ . . . since you have fellowship with the Spirit.” Christ and His Spirit live within us, and through their presence we can develop “the same” attitude “as that of Christ Jesus.”

“Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place” Phil. 2:9–11. Our Christian faith is filled with paradoxes. This is one of the most powerful. Because Christ humbled Himself, God exalted Him. The way up, is down. The key to mastery is servanthood. The greatest among us are the servants of all.
It is a paradox, but it is also reality. We who choose humility now will be raised higher than the proud. We who give ourselves to others gain. We who lose ourselves find our true and better selves.
There is no other way to succeed in the Christian life than to walk the road Jesus traveled.

“The name that is above every name” Phil. 2:9–11. The name “Lord” has significance in both Testaments. In the Old Testament it is the personal name of God, Yahweh, and means “the One Who Is Always Present.” It was by this name that Israel was to remember God, and to experience Him as reality in every setting of life.
In the New Testament “Lord” is the name of honor. It captures the spirit of the Old Testament name, and fills it with fresh new meaning through Jesus’ suffering and exaltation. The ever-present God came into the world in a human body, and the God-Man Jesus was raised triumphant. One day all mankind will worship Jesus as Lord—the eternal, personal God of history and Scripture.
There is a note of finality here. “Every knee shall bow” is not a Gospel promise. It is a blunt statement that those who are now unwilling to acknowledge Jesus will be forced to do so at history’s end. How glad we can be to acknowledge Him now, freely, and with joy.
Let’s not make our acknowledgment of Christ as Lord mere lip service, though. In view of who Jesus is, and what He suffered for us, let’s pledge ourselves to render Him full obedience, now and evermore.

“Work out your salvation” Phil. 2:12–18. As the old preacher said, “Oh, salvation’s in him. It just hasn’t worked its way out yet!”
But it will. For God is at work in His own, and by His grace we will display the blamelessness and purity of the sons of God.

“Who takes a genuine interest in your welfare” Phil. 2:19–24. Paul commended Timothy for the very quality he had been exhorting: a humility that lets us put others first. How important it is for churches to have leaders who demonstrate the attitudes they exhort.

“Welcome him in the Lord with great joy” Phil. 2:25–30. Some feel Paul went out of his way to commend Epaphroditus and explain his dangerous illness. They suggest that some in Epaphroditus’ home church of Philippi were critical of this messenger of theirs. Paul countered the criticism by reminding the Philippians twice that Epaproditus “almost died for the work of Christ.”
The role of “critic of the brethren” is one we want to avoid at all costs. It expresses the exact opposite of the attitude of humility that is appropriate for you and me.

DEVOTIONAL
Make Yourself Nothing
(Phil. 2:6–11)
The affirmation of Paul, in this hymn to Christ as God incarnate, is thought to be one of the church’s earliest confessional statements, used in first-century worship. It is surely one of Scripture’s most profound statements of Jesus’ full deity. It portrays Christ as “in very nature God,” but emptying Himself to take on human nature and suffer a shameful death. It affirms not only Jesus’ resurrection but His ultimate exaltation over all.
Yet Paul applied this most profound of the mysteries of our faith in such a simple, practical way! We are to look at the attitude of humility Jesus displayed, and adopt it in our relationships with others.
It’s no wonder, with talk like this, that Christianity has been accused of being the religion of wimps. Ted Turner, for one, has publicly described Christians as people who can’t make it in this world, and so turn to the next. Christians are weak, dull, too scrupulous or too cowardly, to make it big in this world.
The stereotype has been around a long time, and the accusation is nothing new. The arrogant of this world understandably look down on people who talk more about love than success, and who seem to prize humility more than headlines.
What the world doesn’t understand is that Christians choose humility not out of weakness, but out of strength. We choose humility, because our vision of Jesus deals a death blow to all man’s pride. Whatever basis we might have for believing ourselves better than others—intelligence, looks, wealth, education, breeding—all pale to utter insignificance when we see Jesus, willing to abandon His rightful claim of full equality with God, to not only become a human being, but even to die on a cross.
Seeing Jesus, we realize that all those claims we might make to superiority must also be nailed to Jesus’ cross. We must give them up; put them to death once and for all. For only when our pride has been put to death will we begin to care for others as Christ has cared for us. And to the true Christian, as to Christ, the interests of others are more important than his own.

Personal Application
We climb to glory on the down escalator.

Quotable
“Humility is the garment of the Deity. The incarnate Word was clothed in it, and through it, conversed with us in our bodies, covering the radiance of His greatness and His glory by this humility lest the creature be scorched by the sight of Him. The creature could not have looked at Him, had He not taken on some part of it and thus conversed with it. Therefore every man who clothes himself in garments of humility becomes clothed in Christ Himself.”—Isaak of Syria

Philippians

INTRODUCTION
This warm and upbeat letter was written while Paul was imprisoned in Rome around A.D. 61. Despite this circumstance, the key word in Philippians is “joy” or “rejoice,” which occurs 14 times. While the letter is personal, rather than a theological treatise like Romans or Galatians, it contains one of Scriptures’ most powerful affirmations of the Incarnation and exaltation of Christ (2:1–11). The Book of Philippians is also a beautiful expression of the values and motives of Paul himself, and thus an example for Christians of every era.

OUTLINE OF CONTENTS
I.
Introduction
Phil. 1:1–11
II.
Paul’s Imprisonment
Phil. 1:12–30
III.
Imitating Christ’s Humility
Phil. 2:1–18
IV.
News of Epaphroditus
Phil. 2:19–30
V.
Warnings
Phil. 3:1–4:1
VI.
Personal Exhortations
Phil. 4:2–9
VII.
Thanks and Farewell
Phil. 4:10–23

PAUL IN CHAINS
Philippians 1

“What has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel” (Phil. 1:12).

In Christ, even bad news can be good news in disguise.

Background
The church in Philippi. Paul founded the church in the Roman colony city of Philippi aboutA.D 50, some 10 years before this letter was written. He visited there again aboutA.D 55, and kept in contact with the believers through letters and helpers like Timothy. The Philippians were apparently very upset when they heard that Paul had been sent to Rome after his arrest in Jerusalem (Acts 21–28). They sent a gift of money with Epaphroditus to help Paul with his expenses. This messenger became extremely ill, but recovered, and Paul sent this letter to the Philippians by him when he recovered. Paul touched on many different topics in Philippians, from his own imprisonment to a feud between two leading women in the church there. Despite his own uncertain circumstances and indications of problems in the Philippian congregation, Paul’s letter is vibrant with a joy that exists independent of circumstances. In Philippians, we find the sources of joy available to Christians who walk through dark places with the Lord.

Overview
Paul thanked God and prayed for his partners in the Gospel (1:1–11). He assured them that his imprisonment had been a good thing (vv. 12–26), and exhorted them to stand firm together (vv. 27–30).

Understanding the Text
“I always pray with joy” Phil. 1:4. Prayer for others isn’t a duty. It is a joy: a special opportunity to caress and be close to people we love.
This fresh approach to intercession marks the opening words of Paul’s letter to the Philippians. No special, desperate need drove Paul to prayer. Instead Paul had cultivated the habit, whenever he thought of his dear friends in Philippi, of expressing the joyful feelings remembrance brings by offering up a prayer for them.
What a simple, yet meaningful way for us to enrich our prayer lives. We can cultivate the habit, whenever we think of others, to give thanks and pray for them “with joy.”

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” Phil. 1:3–6. My first week in college in Ohio I had an appendix attack, and an emergency operation. My mom and dad drove down to see me, and Mother brought me a Bible. Trying to joke, I took it and said, “I’m not that sick!”
Sometimes even we Christians think of prayer or other religious exercises as a last resort kind of thing. We pray when we’re desperate, or when we are fearful for others. But Paul prayed out of joy, and with supreme confidence. There was no clear and present danger to the Philippian church. These believers had worked in partnership with Paul in spreading the Gospel from the first. And Paul had total confidence that the work God began in their lives would be carried on to completion, “until the day of Christ Jesus.”
We can have this same confidence when we pray for one another. God won’t abandon any of His own. Our prayers aren’t a last-ditch effort to keep them from sliding over the edge of some spiritual precipice. We pray for other Christians with joy, and with total confidence that God is at work in their lives.
Why then do we pray? We pray as an expression of love. And we pray because we believe that God in some mysterious way uses our prayers to enrich that good work He is committed to do in His children’s lives.

“And this is my prayer” Phil. 1:9–11. Romans 8:26 notes that we do not really know what we ought to pray for others. Yet Paul’s prayers for other believers, like the one recorded here, and like prayers in Ephesians 3 and Colossians 1, can guide us. These prayers are well worth committing to memory. Then, when we think of a friend, we can ask “that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes from Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”

“What has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel” Phil. 1:12–18. The Philippians were deeply upset at Paul’s imprisonment. For one thing, if Paul were convicted, the Christian movement might be threatened. The Roman government had declared certain religions licit, giving them the legal right to be practiced. Other religions had no legal standing. As the Christian movement emerged from Judaism, and Judaism was a legal religion, early Christianity was protected. If Paul were convicted of some religious crime, the movement he represented might be officially proscribed.
Even if this didn’t happen, the great apostle and evangelist seemed “put on the shelf.” He had been under arrest for two years in Caesarea. Now he was under house arrest in Rome. What would happen to the Gospel without Paul?
I read in today’s paper an account of the explosive growth of evangelical Christianity in Guatemala. That land, torn by bloodshed, its economy destroyed and its people destitute, now is about one third evangelical Christian, and the number is growing at approximately 10 percent a year! We must hurt for those experiencing the terrors of poverty and civil strife. Yet we also need to realize that God is using their suffering on earth to open their hearts to the Gospel.
How often we are shaken by circumstances that are admittedly terrible, but in God’s providence “serve to advance the Gospel.” The lesson Paul was trying to teach the Philippians is that God takes apparent tragedies and molds them into triumphs (see DEVOTIONAL).

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” Phil. 1:21. Paul stated the one attitude which enables us to discover good in ills that would otherwise mar our lives. If we look at circumstances merely from a human point of view, and think first of our own comfort or our situation in this life, we might have good reason for despair. But Paul didn’t look at life this way at all. He was concerned only with serving Jesus and glorifying Him.
If this is our primary motivation, our circumstances here will be relatively unimportant. We can live for Jesus in a hovel or a palace. We can share our pennies or our millions. We can give thanks for our rags or for our riches.
Make pleasing Jesus your sole desire, and you declare independence from all the circumstances that can ruin the lives of others who struggle on without Him.

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel” Phil. 1:27–30. This paragraph sums up Paul’s theme in a simple exhortation. “Whatever happens.” Whether you prosper or go bankrupt. Whether you become popular or an object of scorn. Whatever comes, live as a Christian who is worthy of the great gift God has given in the Gospel.
What marks the “worthy” Christian life? Maintaining unity. Contending for the Gospel. Remaining confident rather than fearful.
The exhortation is important for us as well as for the first-century Philippians. In this life we too may be given an unusual gift. The gift, “on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him.”
By using any circumstances He sends as opportunities to serve God, we can make our suffering not only a gift from God, but a gift to Him.

DEVOTIONAL
Circumstantial Evidence
(Phil. 1:12–19)
In our courts of law the best evidence is direct evidence: there are witnesses to an event who can testify to who did what and when. Next best is circumstantial evidence: facts and information that when interpreted make who, what, and when likely. The problem with circumstantial evidence is always in that little phrase, “when interpreted.”
For instance, take a beautiful, vibrant, athletic young woman. She has an accident that permanently paralyzes her from the neck down. “Terrible,” we say. And we’re right. “Her life is ruined,” we think. And we’re wrong! Through that accident Joni Eareckson Tada became a great gift to the church, and found a new and fulfilling life for herself.
This is essentially what Paul was trying to teach the Philippians when he wrote, “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the Gospel” (v. 12). Circumstances are deceiving. Yes, Paul, the early church’s premier evangelist and church planter, had been put on the shelf. Yes, he’d spent two years locked up in Caesarea, and now he was under house arrest in Rome. It looked like a terrible setback for the church, and a terrible waste of Paul’s few remaining years. But that is only how it looked. That is not how it was.
Look, Paul said. Everyone in the palace guard knows I’m here because of Jesus. And most of the brothers have been “encouraged to speak the Word of God more courageously.” Like a football team whose star quarterback is out of the game, the rest try harder! Even those who resented Paul were out preaching more vigorously, and though their motives were questionable, Christ was being preached! So Paul didn’t see his imprisonment as a tragedy at all. He looked beyond the circumstances, and interpreted them with a clear understanding of God’s goal of getting out the Gospel. As for Paul himself, well, through the Philippians’ prayers, he would surely be delivered.
Let’s learn to interpret circumstantial evidence as Paul did, taking into account the fact that God works all things together for good for those who love the Lord. What looks like a tragedy may lead to one of history’s greatest spiritual triumphs. What looks like defeat may be turning into victory. What looks like suffering may be the harbinger of joy.

Personal Application
Face the worst, and expect the best.

Quotable
“Suffering, though a burden, is a useful burden, like the splints used in orthopedic treatment.”—Soren Kierkegaard

THE LORD WILL COME
1 Thessalonians 4–5

“The Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command . . . and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thes. 4:16).

Christ’s coming is both comfort and challenge.

Background
Eschatology in the Thessalonian letters. It is clear from reading these letters that during the few short weeks or months Paul was with the Thessalonians, he gave them a rather detailed picture of the end times. These letters speak of Christ’s return for His saints, the appearance of the Antichrist, final judgment, and other aspects of the end time. Yet the exact sequence of events, and how elements of the whole eschatological picture fit together, is a matter of debate by earnest Christians.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember as we read these letters is that, as Christ’s “first coming” encompassed a period of more than 30 years, His “second coming” also embraces a period of years. Much of the confusion about the end times comes from assuming that the “Second Coming” is a single event, rather than a series of world-shaking events spread over a period of years.
This does not necessarily help in determining how the events mentioned in the Thessalonian letters relate to each other or other Old and New Testament passages. Even so, we can accept each as describing some aspect of future history.
What seemed most important to Paul was not to provide a chart, but to provide a challenge. Paul called on the Thessalonians and on us to see what God intends to do, and then to apply that vision of the future to guide current choices and adjust present attitudes. It is the application of prophecy that we need to focus on as we read these letters devotionally.

Overview
Pleasing God calls for holiness (4:1–9) and brotherly love (vv. 10–12). Christ’s own will be raised at His imminent return (v. 13–5:3). Till then we are to live expectant, self-controlled lives, encouraging one another (vv. 4–11). Paul closed with various specific instructions (vv. 12–28).

Understanding the Text
“How to live in order to please God” 1 Thes. 4:1. The verb rendered “please” here had a broad meaning in the New Testament era. It spoke of action which not only won approval, but which constituted active and actual service. We are God’s servants as well as His sons. We are to dedicate our lives to serving Him.
Paul said that the Thessalonians knew how to live to please/serve God. But he went on to remind them anyway. If we are not constantly reminded of what we know, we are all too prone to forget. So let Paul’s words of exhortation remind us too of the persons we are called to be, and the service we are called to render.

“It is God’s will that you should be holy” 1 Thes. 4:3–8. Paul specifically mentioned avoiding sexual immorality. But Paul’s broader concern was for controlling all “passionate lust.” Paul used this phrase not just of sexual appetite but of overpowering desire of any kind. A passion for power, a passion for money, a passion for food, a passion for approval and popularity can have just as destructive an impact on holiness as sexual passion.
We are not to be mastered by our desires, but are to let God master us. We must keep a tight reign on any desires whose grip might keep us from serving Him and others.

“You yourselves have been taught by God to love each other” 1 Thes. 4:9–10. One of the most powerful motivations for that service which pleases God is Christian love. Note that such love is reciprocal: Christians love “each other.”
There is something deadly about an unrequited sacrificial love. The daughter who gives up marriage to care for her invalid mother may do so out of love. But if the mother remains critical, bitter, and demanding, even the purest love is likely to sour. The husband who keeps on loving his unfaithful wife may be admirable. But in time that home is sure to shatter from her sheer selfishness. Any love which is constantly rejected must ultimately fail.
This is one reason why God created His church to be family. God gave us brothers and sisters in Christ so we can experience as well as extend love. In the mutuality possible in the body of Christ, our ability to love can grow, and we can find the resources we need to enable us to love others who do not love in return.
If you are in a situation where your love is met only with bitterness or rejection, seek Christian friends who will support and love you. Even in the best of situations we need an intimate relationship with other believers where we can give and receive love.
If you’re looking for a church, don’t look first at programs and activities. Look to see if the people of the church truly love each other.

“Make it your ambition” 1 Thes. 4:11–12. We’re used to parents being ambitious for their children. Usually what Mom and Dad are ambitious for is that the kids get ahead—a bigger job, a higher salary, more status. And often we nod approval when young people show “drive and ambition.” Again what we mean is that they work hard, find a good job, and are on their way “up in the world.”
Paul had a different slant on ambition. In essence, Paul said make it your ambition to be as ordinary as possible. Lead a quiet life. Mind your own business. Work hard, earning your own living with your own hands. Be a good, but rather ordinary, citizen.
I rather like Paul’s emphasis. Ordinary folks, living good, honest, hardworking, ordinary lives, have a habit of winning the respect of those who know them. For God’s people, winning respect is a much higher goal than getting to the top!

“About those who fall asleep” 1 Thes. 4:13–18. One of the most powerful of Paul’s eschatological statements emerged from a very practical concern. Some of the Christians in Thessalonica had died. Friends and family were terribly upset. Would these folks miss out on Jesus’ return?
In compelling language, Paul reassured them. When Jesus appears, believers who are “asleep” will be raised from the dead, and then, together with still-living saints, all Christians will soar together into the clouds to meet Jesus, and be with Him forever.
Paul then applied this dramatic vision simply: “Encourage one another with these words.” When a loved one dies, we can look ahead, catch a glimpse of Jesus’ triumphant appearance, and rejoice.

“About times and dates” 1 Thes. 5:1–3. The early church expected Jesus to return at any moment. They didn’t know when. They just knew that, at a moment the world did not expect Him, Jesus would appear to execute final judgment.
What Paul was talking about is the doctrine of “imminence.” All that this means is that Jesus could return at any moment. There are no conditions to be met that would hinder Him from coming today, tonight, or tomorrow. We know that Halley’s comet won’t return until the late 21st century. But Christians through the ages have been aware that Jesus could return at any moment.
Wouldn’t it be grand if Jesus should come November 16th? Or even today? (See DEVOTIONAL.)

“Hold them in highest regard” 1 Thes. 5:12–13. I suffer from a terrible disease. The Sunday service snoozies.
It goes back to my days in seminary, when I worked from 11 P.M. to 7 A.M. seven nights a week and carried a full 19 semester-hour-load of classes. Every day at chapel I’d find a seat near the wall, lean my head against it, and sleep. Now, even when I preach, it’s hard to keep awake as the service proceeds. And when others preach—well, it’s been nearly impossible. Till we came to our present church and the excellent preaching of our pastor, Richard Schmidt, a warm and delightful brother. I suddenly realized that my wife’s elbow hadn’t been buried in my ribs for several months, and that I was actually staying awake most Sundays! I called Richard and told him how much I appreciated his sermons. They were even worth staying awake to hear!
He laughed and said “thanks.” And added, he wished the other retired preachers in the congregation had the same attitude. It seems they persistently gave him a hard time.
If God has used your minister to speak to you, to bless you, to encourage or strengthen you, why not give him or her a call? Such folk need more than our respect. They need our encouragement.

“Do not put out the Spirit’s fire” 1 Thes. 5:19. Older versions say, “Don’t quench the Spirit.” The meaning isn’t mysterious at all. Have you ever had a youngster come to you, full of enthusiasm over an idea or project? And watched his or her face fall when you said no?
Well, the Holy Spirit is enthusiastically committed to ideas and projects by which you can serve God and experience great blessing. And every time you say no to His prompting, it’s like throwing a bucket of cold water.
The Spirit won’t force you or me to follow His promptings. We can quench His ministry to us by a simple no. But when we do, it is to our great loss.

DEVOTIONAL
Sons of Light
(1 Thes. 5:1–11)
I remember very well playing down in the basement as my mother washed clothes. I was 4 or 5, so it was well over 50 years ago that I dressed up as Pecos Pete, and rode down the steps to rescue her from rustlers. That was pretend. But I also remember very well my mother telling me she expected Jesus to return in her lifetime. That wasn’t pretend. That was very real to my mom. She was wrong. She died in a car accident in the 1960s. But awareness that Jesus’ return was just around the corner was a cornerstone of my mother’s life.
What Mom told me as a child is still very real to me. My wife and I often speak of it, and expect Jesus to return before either of us joins Him through death. We don’t know when He will come. The “times and the seasons” are a mystery. But the reality of Jesus’ return looms large in our thoughts.
Paul pictured those who live with that awareness as “sons of the light and sons of the day.” We’re not in the dark about the future—or about how to live our lives here and now.
Jesus is coming! And so we exercise self-control, and keep our values in harmony with His. Jesus is coming! And so set faith and love as a guard over our hearts. Jesus is coming! And so our perspective is shaped by the certain hope of His appearance, not to judge us, but to rescue us from the wrath about to fall on our lost world. Jesus is coming! And so we encourage each other, and build each other up, placing a higher premium on persons than on things. As God does.
My mother wasn’t wrong to expect Jesus. We’re not wrong either. And as long as His coming is real to us, our choices, and our lives, are sure to be transformed.

Personal Application
Look for Jesus, and brighten the eastern horizon of your life.

Quotable
“I have felt like working three times as hard since I came to understand that my Lord is coming again.”—D.L. Moody

1 Thessalonians





INTRODUCTION
The young church at Thessalonica suffered immediate persecution, and Paul was driven from the city (Acts 17:1–9). This early letter, written about A.D. 50, was intended to encourage and further instruct very new believers.
This and a second letter pick up themes found in all Paul’s letters, such as the inspiration of Scripture, the deity of Christ, salvation based on Jesus’ death, personal purity, love, and especially emphasizes teaching about Jesus’ second coming. Paul clearly felt it was important to ground new converts in basic Christian doctrines.

OUTLINE OF CONTENTS
I.
Introduction
1 Thes. 1
II.
A Relationship Described
1 Thes. 2–3
III.
Exhortation and Conclusion
1 Thes. 4–5

EFFECTIVE MINISTRY
1 Thessalonians 1–3

“We were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the Gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us” (1 Thes. 2:7–8).

The way we relate to others authenticates the Gospel’s message of love.

Overview
Paul praised God for the Thessalonians’ steadfastness (1:1–3) and evidences of their true conversion (vv. 4–10). He reminded them of his very personal ministry there (2:1–12) and encouraged them in their suffering (vv. 13–16). He spoke of the love which moved him to send Timothy to visit them (v. 17–3:7) and his own joy at Timothy’s good report (vv. 8–13).

Understanding the Text
“Work produced by faith” 1 Thes. 1:1–3. The Thessalonians were remarkable as a truly committed church. They not only received the Gospel—they acted on it!
What is so surprising is that Acts 17 seems to suggest Paul’s missionary team was in this city of 200,000 only a few weeks or at most a couple of months before riots and rumors forced them to flee to Berea. Even so they left behind the nucleus of a strong, vital church, which remained faithful despite persecution. What a challenge to us, who may have known the Gospel much longer, but may display less evidence of its grip on our lives.
What was the Thessalonians’ secret? They had faith that produced work, love that prompted labor, and hope that inspired endurance (v. 3). No one who truly lays hold of the Gospel’s message of faith, love, and hope can remain the same.

“You welcomed the message” 1 Thes. 1:4–6. Verses 4–10 describe a total response to the Gospel message: a response that preachers everywhere yearn to see in their congregations, and we yearn to see in those we love.
The very first element in that response is, “You welcomed the message.” God’s people in Thessalonica did not hesitate, or hold back, or cluck critically. They were excited and enthusiastic when they heard the Word of God.
Some years ago Joe Bayly wrote a classic little book called The Gospel Blimp. It told of some enthusiastic Christians who decided to bombard their town with tracts, and figured that a blimp would be great. They could drift over backyards and drop tracts on everyone! It’s hard to imagine that folks would really “welcome” Gospel bombs detonating in their yards. Certainly Paul had a better way. He shared the Gospel personally “with deep conviction” and relied on the power of the Holy Spirit, not the Gospel Blimp. And Paul “lived among” the people he tried to reach, so that they knew him and his way of life.
If you and I want others to welcome the Gospel, Paul’s approach is essential.

“The Lord’s message rang out from you” 1 Thes. 1:7–9a. The old saying is still true. Shepherds don’t have lambs. Sheep do.
It certainly was true in Thessalonica. Paul was forced to leave the city after riots were stirred up by Jewish opponents. But the church kept on growing, spiritually and numerically. Awhile ago I was talking with a Chinese friend just back from mainland China, who was telling me about the quiet revival going on there. In the ’70s when religion was proscribed, the church was forced underground, and leaders were stifled or imprisoned. Yet now, just 15 years later, Christmas church services are swamped as millions openly profess their faith in Christ, and many more millions take part in a dynamic house-church movement. The shepherds were taken away by the state. But it didn’t matter. It is sheep who have lambs, not shepherds, and the ranks of Chinese Christians continue to swell.
Wherever average Christians are willing to become imitators of the Lord, to serve as models for others, and to sound forth the Word, the Gospel will continue to thrive.

“You turned to God from idols” 1 Thes. 1:9b-10. The sequence here can never be reversed. Some try to reform a person before or without conversion. Some say, “I’d like to come to church, but I have this habit. As soon as I break it, then.”
What’s wrong is that we don’t turn from idols to God. We turn to God from idols. We have to turn to God first, because only God’s power will enable us to break the chains that bind us.
So don’t think, “As soon as I get my life straightened around, I’ll come to God.” Come to God, and let Him straighten your life around for you.

“You know that we never” 1 Thes. 2:1–6. Paul had two gifts to offer the Thessalonians. These are the same two gifts that you and I have to offer others. The Gospel and ourselves.
Both the gifts can and often will be misunderstood. But you and I as persons are the most vulnerable to criticism. What a grand way to attack the Gospel. Ignore its message of God’s love, and suggest that the messenger is greedy, or deceitful, or is trying to trick people. It really does hurt the Gospel when something like this proves to be true, as in several celebrated televangelists’ cases.
But think what a great opportunity you and I have to adorn the Gospel by being honest and loving! Paul said, “You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed.” The really significant words here are “you know.” Paul developed a close enough relationship with the Thessalonians, even in the brief time he knew them, that he was sure they knew his inmost motives and self.
By living openly and honestly with others we guard not only our own reputation but the integrity of the Gospel as well.

“Like a mother caring for her little children” 1 Thes. 2:7–9. When Paul tried to describe the relationship he developed with others as he shared the Gospel, only family images would do.
It would have seemed funny to strangers, to hear Paul, described in early documents as a wizened little man whose large nose almost met his chin, speak of himself as a “mother caring for her little children [infants].” But it wouldn’t seem funny to the Thessalonians, for they would have felt just that quality of tender, protective love, flowing from the great apostle.
Love isn’t a matter of how we look, or how much money we have, or how much education. Love is simply the overflow of a deep concern for the welfare of others. If you have that love, nothing else matters. If you do not, nothing else counts.

“We dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children” 1 Thes. 2:10–12. Paul continued to use family imagery. Again, nothing else quite conveys the kind of relationship that fits the Gospel (see DEVOTIONAL). This time the key words are “each of you.”
My sons, Paul and Tim, had the same parents, grew up in the same house, went to the same schools—but are very different from each other. Each needed to be treated as an individual. That’s what is so impressive about Paul’s reminder here that, like a father with adolescent children, he dealt with “each” of the Thessalonians as an individual. Those who needed encouraging, he encouraged. Those who needed comfort, he comforted. Those who needed urging—what we might call a good kick in the pants—Paul urged. His goal was the same in every case: to help them “live lives worthy of God.” But how he worked with others toward that goal took individual differences into account.
If we’re to minister effectively to others—even members of our own families, we must come to know them as individuals and respond to each according to his or her characteristics and needs.
Loving doesn’t just mean letting others know us and our motives. It means getting to know others, individually, and well.

“The Word of God, which is at work in you” 1 Thes. 2:13–16. Frank was a young convert in our Brooklyn congregation. The jolly, heavy-set 20-year-old paid a high price for his faith. His mom and dad, traditional ’50s Catholics, saw his conversion as apostasy. They tried to bribe him with a set of drums he’d longed for. Finally they threw him out of the house. Frank suffered intensely, but he kept faith with what he thought was right. And all of us young people in our church hurt for him.
Paul knew the ambivalence that must come when someone becomes a believer and suffers persecution as a result. But Paul reminded himself and the Thessalonians that you “became imitators of God’s churches in Judea.” There’s a long tradition of suffering linked with Christian commitment. Things don’t automatically get better. They may get worse!
When those we love suffer for their faith, we can hurt with them. But we must remember that suffering is nothing new. What is new is the fact that God’s Word is at work in us. And in this we can rejoice.

“Our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory” 1 Thes. 2:17–3:13. When the very elements that make up this universe dissolve in fervent heat, only human beings will remain. Paul had chosen to love people, rather than things. When Christ comes again, Paul’s hope, joy, and crown of rejoicing will be present with him, preserved for all eternity.
Paul was forced to leave these very precious people when the rioting began in Thessalonica. No wonder he sent Timothy to visit them as soon as he could (3:1–5), and was filled with joy when he brought back a good report (vv. 6–13).
Let’s make others the focus of our concern, and the touchstone of our values, so that they become our joy.

DEVOTIONAL
Home, Sweet Home
(1 Thes. 2:1–12)
I suppose I had many reasons for taking the bus home from college so many weekends. I did bring back bags of dirty laundry, like most college guys. But the real reason was that nothing felt quite like home. Nothing was quite as comfortable as Mom baking bread in the tiny kitchen, or Dad smoking his pipe on the front porch. Nothing felt quite so “right” as watching Dad wash the dishes while Mom dried, or sprawling in an easy chair while Mom read aloud stories and articles from the Saturday Evening Post.
Home was warm, comfortable, a place where I was welcomed and loved even if I was a college man now, and out on my own. Home had a climate all its own.
Paul understood this as well as anyone. He knew that home is the one really effective climate for evangelism and for spiritual growth. So Paul not only brought others the Gospel in word, he created a sense of family by the way he loved every member of the Thessalonian church.
What people need today, perhaps even more than in other times, is that climate of warmth, intimacy, and caring that marks a loving home. The church that provides this climate will be sure to grow. And its members will become mature.

Personal Application
Build your church as birds build nests—one tiny twig of love at a time.

Quotable
WE EXIST TO PROVIDE LOVE AND CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER . . .
through sharing each other’s needs, burdens, and joys
through serving each other in a sacrificial way
through learning how to love and be loved.
God in His grace, has given us to each other. An integral part of our life as His body is caring for and supporting each other.—From the Mission Statement, Crossroads Community Church