There has never been a sport in which a successful athlete has ever said that he or she does not need to practice any longer. Michael Jordan is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Yet he did not proclaim that he is such a great player that he did not need to practice. His desire for success continued to propel him to practice more and more. This is true not only for great athletes but also for any work or effort. Whether we are talking about music and entertainment or about education or career, no one can remain successful if they stop working at their craft. Yet one of the dangers of the Christian life is becoming content with our current level of faithfulness. It is easy to think that since we have hit particular levels of faithfulness or spiritual maturity that we can be content with that level.
The first letter to the Thessalonians is fairly unique when it comes to Paul’s letters because he does not appear to need to make big corrections to the church there. He does not have to write about divisions like he does to the Corinthians. He does not have to write about leaving the gospel like he did to the churches of Galatia. When you read the first three chapters of 1 Thessalonians you will see that these Christians are doing well in their faith and walk with the Lord Jesus. Paul praises the Thessalonian Christians for how they have become an example to all the believers in the regions of Macedonia and Achaia (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8). Their steadfastness in the Lord has been so powerful that Paul says that he and his companions have derived great joy (cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:8-10). So what else will you say to these Christians who have great faith, endured suffering, and have become an example to all the believers in the area? Please open your copies of God’s words to 1 Thessalonians 4.
Live To Please God (1 Thessalonians 4:1)
In the first verse of 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul now transitions his letter with the words, “Finally.” Now listen to what Paul says next. “We ask and urge you…” Even though Paul has praised these Christians for their faith throughout this letter, he now says he has a request for these Christians. In fact, Paul is not only asking this but he is urging this. In short, what Paul is about to say to these Christians is critically important. As well as you are doing in the faith, we are asking you and urging you in the Lord Jesus. What is he asking and urging? What is the necessity he is putting on these Christians? He tells them that they were taught how they ought to walk and please God. Paul says that we taught you how to live your life in Christ. We taught you how to please God.
This is a critically important principle. We are to live in a way that pleases God. We are able to live our lives in a way that pleases God. Do not let anyone cause you to think that you cannot be pleasing to God when you become a Christian. You can be pleasing to God and you are commanded to be pleasing to God. You must be pleasing to God. You are asked and urged to live your life in a way that pleases God. Now this leads us to an important consideration. Who decides what pleases God? This is a really important question. Who decides what pleases God? To help us answer this, let’s think about this in our own lives. Who decides what pleases you? Do other people tell you what pleases you or do you know what pleases you? You are the one who knows what is pleasing to you. You probably have found this out during holiday seasons or birthday seasons where people with all their good hearts and good intentions tried to buy you something or give you something that they thought would be pleasing to you, but it wasn’t. They thought this was the gift that would be pleasing to you, but it wasn’t. My point is simply that other people do not determine what is pleasing to you. Only you can decide what is pleasing to you. Friends, it is the same with God. We have a fine way to trying to tell God what pleases him. We want to tell him that what we are doing pleases him. We want to tell him that our sins please him. We want to tell him that the way we are living our lives are pleasing to him. But we do not have the right or ability to tell God what is pleasing to him. Only God can say what is pleasing to him. When Paul tells Christians to live their lives in a way that is pleasing to God, then we are being told that we must seek what God wants. So many people want to tell God that their lives are pleasing to him. So many people who claim to be Christians want to tell God that their lives are pleasing to him. But we do not determine what is pleasing to God. Only God determines what pleases him. Paul urges these Christians that they were taught how to live their lives and how to please God.
The Need To Excel Even More (1 Thessalonians 4:1-2)
Now you will notice at the end of verse 1 that Paul observes that these Christians are living their lives in a way to please God. So what else does he have to tell them? Keep reading in verse 1. Paul asks them and urges them to do so more and more. Live your life pleasing to God and excel even more in doing so. Christians are called to excel even more than their current level of faithfulness, love, and service. Christians are called to walk worthy of the calling, to be pleasing to God, and then to do so more and more. Allow me to say this point in this way: spiritual growth is commanded. We are called to spiritually progress. We are called to spiritual excellence. We must not and cannot stay stationary in our walk to be pleasing to God.
Friends, Paul’s concern must be our concern. Far too many Christians do not show any spiritual progress. It is so easy to see Christians who become spiritually stagnant or actually regress in their faith. The temptation and the problem is very real. When we read about the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2 we find out that they had experienced a spiritual regression, leaving the love that they had at the first. When we read about the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3 we read that they were spiritually stagnant, who were neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm in their faith. The writer of Hebrews would warn about neglecting our great salvation (cf. Hebrews 2:3) and reminded these Christians about how the Israelites fell in the wilderness, failing to enter into the promised rest (cf. Hebrews 3:7-19). Perhaps the great problem is that we forget what the goal for our lives ultimately is. Listen to what Jesus said was the goal of his life.
So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” (John 8:28-29 ESV)
Notice what Jesus said. Jesus said that he did not one thing on his own authority. He did nothing on his own. So what did he do? Jesus explains that he always does what is pleasing to the Father. This is the goal. This is what Paul is urging these Christians to do. This is what Paul is urging us to do. Now let me ask something for us to think about. Is there room to grow in doing what is pleasing to the Father? Can we always improve in our efforts and in our works to live our lives to be always pleasing to God? Of course we can. How can we ever level off our efforts, believing that we have achieved all that is needed to be pleasing to him? Paul is urging us to excel even more. You know the instructions given to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:2). Walk in them and do so more and more.
Life Messages
So I want to have four considerations for us to excel even more. First, following Christ is a walk, not a moment. When we believed in Jesus, made the decision to turn from our sins, submitted to Jesus and washed away our sins when we were baptized, that was the start of our walk, not the end. It is far too easy to see our baptism as a crossing of the finish line of faith rather than what it truly is: starting to run the race of faith. Following Christ is a walk, not a moment. So I want us to evaluate this for us right now. Did we stop our race when we came to Christ? Did we learn about Jesus, turn from our sins, give our lives to Jesus, and then stop? There has been no further movement to know the Lord, to change our lives, to be pleasing to God, or be transformed into the image of his Son.
Second, Christ is not requiring perfection but progress. We should be able to look over our lives and see spiritual progress. So I want us to consider this idea for a moment. Are we able to see spiritual progress in our faith from when we came to Christ to now? But do not let this be the only test. Now think about some of these tests. Are we able to see spiritual progress in our faith in the last five years? Are we able to see spiritual progress in our faith from last year to this year? I hope that we see the idea. We are to excel even more every month and every year. We may see progress in our spiritual maturity from where we started. But did that progress stop after the first few years and now we have flatlined that growth and even receded in that progress?
Third, spiritual growth is never finished. This means that we cannot be content with our current level of faithful service. There is not a line in which we say that this is good enough and we do not need to excel even more. I hope we see the problem of looking at our relationship with God with the lens of what is the minimum of what I must do. When we try to figure out what is the least required of me we can see that we are completely missing the point. The question is not if I have to come back to worship on Sunday nights. The question is not if Wednesday Bible studies are required. The question is not how many sins can continue in and still make it to heaven. The question is about spiritual growth. We are not to be thinking about how little is required but how can I excel even more to be pleasing to God. What more can we do to grow in our worship? What more can we do to grow in our encouragement? What more can we do to grow in our faith and knowledge? What more can we do to grow in the fruit of the Spirit? What more can we do to grow in our walk so that we look more and more like Christ?
Finally, pleasing God is our highest goal. The apostle Paul proclaimed that whether we are at home or away from the body, we make it our aim to please God (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:9). Paul commanded that we would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him (cf. Colossians 1:10). Therefore, we must ask an important question for every decision we make in our lives. Would this please God? Is what I am about to do pleasing to God? Are the words I am about to say pleasing to God? Is what I am doing at work pleasing to God? Is what I am doing at home pleasing to God? Is what I am doing with my family pleasing to God? Is how I am handling my marriage pleasing to God? Is what I am watching pleasing to God? Are my emotions pleasing to God? Is my worship pleasing to God? This is the question that we must ask that we can easily forget to ask. Would this please God? Then do it and excel even more in it.