1 Thessalonians 4: Growing in Holiness More and More

Introduction

"When someone truly meets Jesus, they also understand that the time has come to begin a new life." That is how Tom Parsons opens this Sunday evening message at All Souls Langham Place in London, part of a series on Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians.

The text is 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12. Paul takes up two delicate subjects that Timothy had reported to him: sexual immorality, and the refusal of some to take responsibility for their own material needs. The preacher draws two headings from this: seek holiness more and more, and seek love more and more.

The thread of the message comes down to two words from Paul: "more and more." You may not be starting from the same place as the person sitting next to you, but God invites you to move forward from where you are tonight.

Outline of the message

1. When God enters a life, you know you have to live differently

The preacher's wife came to faith at 22, at a summer camp in New Zealand. A city girl, she had just finished studying fashion design in Wellington, but the Christians who had helped her believe were all dairy farmers.
Knowing no Christians in the city, she told herself: "If following Jesus means leaving the city and becoming a dairy farmer, so be it." The preacher adds with humor that this is not what it means. What he takes from it is her deep awareness that she now had to live a life that pleases God.
His own journey was more complicated. At 14, the Spirit of God opened his heart, and he was overwhelmed by God's love and by the death of Jesus on the cross so that he could be forgiven. But he resisted: "God will understand that it is not reasonable to expect me to take his word seriously about how I live. I'm a special case."
God was very patient with him. As a student, receiving biblical teaching and fellowship, he saw things change. Even this teenage story shows that the Holy Spirit gives this awareness: you have to live differently in order to please God.

2. A genuine church that still has to grow

The church in Thessalonica was born during a short mission by Paul, cut short by a riot. Paul had to leave almost dragged out of the city, leaving behind a church that had barely been taught and was being persecuted.
For weeks he waited anxiously: were they still standing? He sent Timothy, who came back with good news. The Thessalonians had truly converted: they trusted in Jesus and loved one another.
As in every genuine work of God, some areas still needed to grow. Paul knew it and weighed his words like a pastor. At the end of verse 2, he reminds them that his instructions come "through the Lord Jesus": he does not compromise.
But he begins by encouraging: "You are already doing it. Keep going, more and more." Tom Parsons loves this description of the Christian life: a way of living that pleases God. With C. S. Lewis, he reminds us that we can be a part of God's joy.
Forgiven and adopted in Jesus Christ, we stand before a God who loves to see the work of his Spirit in the lives of his children. "Let's decide at least tonight to go forward more and more, from where we are right now."

3. Holiness: being like God

"This is the will of God, even your sanctification" (verse 3). To be sanctified is to become holy, pure like God himself. God's holiness is his separation from all evil and his total commitment to all good. In the Old Testament he repeats it: "Be holy, for I am holy," in other words, be like me.
For the Thessalonians as for us, this means being different from the culture around us. Here, it concerns sexual life.
The preacher notes a movement in verses 3 to 5: positive (your sanctification), negative (abstain from sexual immorality), positive (possess your own body in sanctification and honor), negative (not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God).
Positively, it means keeping sexuality in the only place where the Bible permits it, encourages it, and blesses it: the union of a man and a woman, publicly committed in the covenant of marriage, for life, open to welcoming children. This is the teaching of the Bible and of the Church down the centuries.
Negatively, sexual immorality means any sexual activity outside this framework: before marriage, outside marriage, between people of the same sex, or alone in front of pornography. Jesus goes so far as to say that a mere look of lust is already adultery.
"I know what I look like": a dinosaur, and even a mean, oppressive dinosaur. But this message already seemed strange in Thessalonica. Greco-Roman sexual ethics rested on social hierarchy and power: a free man of high rank did what he wanted, and everyone else put up with it. Since the 1960s, the West has built an ethic based on self-expression.
The preacher does not want to defend the biblical teaching intellectually here. Like Paul, he wants to encourage those who know this is God's way to hold to it more and more. Many do not live this way, but deep down they know it is right. And he invites those who think "you really are that dinosaur" to come and talk with him.

4. God does not want to deprive you, he wants your good

One of our difficulties is believing that God's ways truly serve our flourishing. Since the beginning, our fallen nature has suspected God of being petty and of wanting to deprive us of something beautiful. He is not like that.
Look at the words of the text: "his will," "your sanctification." In verse 4, the word translated "body" is literally "vessel," a euphemism for the sexual organs. Paul calls us to keep this part of ourselves "in sanctification and honor." It is a very positive vision.
Jesus knows the strength of sexual desire. He lived our life, as a young single man. He was the teenager the preacher once was. He showed that there is a holy and dignified way to master these forces instead of submitting to them, and that there is great dignity in this path.
By contrast, pornography leaves the viewer, after a passing excitement, with a shame that drains and makes you look at your own body as something vile. God does not want that for you.
Perhaps you think you will never again be able to look in the mirror as a whole and dignified person. The living God says to you: "You don't have to stay this way. I am calling you to a new life in Jesus, to a new dignity."
Perhaps you think God turns a blind eye to a sexual relationship before marriage. God may be calling you to something much better in your relationship. Perhaps you are married and think life would be better elsewhere. The preacher quotes Martin Luther: many men who have a beautiful and virtuous wife let themselves be deceived, grow tired of her, and attach themselves to worthless women. Outside marriage, you find only dust.

5. God gives his Spirit: let the light in

Paul adds serious warnings (verses 6 to 8): in this new community of love, some were perhaps exploiting others, as has happened at other times in the history of the Church. These sins have eternal consequences.
But why would anyone want to move away from God? At the end of verse 8, Paul speaks of "God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you." The preacher points out that the verb is in the present tense in the original text: God gives his Spirit. He restores life and strength to those who acknowledge they need his help to be transformed. Imagine a life without the Spirit of God in your heart: a miserable life.
What should we do? Resist every desire by trying to suppress it? Tom Parsons tells of a scene from the novel Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St John, which he read at about 12. A young girl is full of resentment against Lucien, a boy who badly hurt her little brother. She asks her grandmother how to get rid of her anger.
The grandmother answers: "In the morning, when you come downstairs and the room is dark, do you chase the darkness away?" The girl looks at her as if she were mad: "I don't chase the darkness away, I open the curtains and the light comes in."
That is the principle: we do not focus first on the fight, we let the light in. We remember the Father's love, the death of his Son for us, his resurrection, his power and his willingness to give us his Holy Spirit. We help one another in the church and bring into the light what is hidden, with a trusted friend or a pastor.
It is not about denying our desires, our frustrations or our disappointments. We come to Jesus saying: "Lord, I am struggling." The change may not be immediate, but when the word "Be holy, for I am holy" shines into the heart, the darkness eventually recedes. We do not have to follow these desires.

6. Brotherly love, also more and more

The second heading follows the same movement: "But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another" (verse 9). They already love all the brothers in Macedonia. Yet Paul urges them to abound more and more.
This love was the proof of the Holy Spirit's work. They knew instinctively, like a doctor's reflex, what a local church does: visit one another in the hospital, bring meals in hard times, pray for one another, offer to watch the children when exhausted young parents need a moment.
Sexual immorality threatened holiness. What threatens brotherly love, the preacher calls in one word: laziness.

7. Taking responsibility for your own needs

Verses 11 and 12: make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, to work with your hands, to walk properly toward outsiders and to be dependent on no one. Paul does not use the word "idle" here, but he uses it in 1 Thessalonians 5:14, and the question comes back in the second letter.
In Thessalonica, some were not living quietly but meddling in other people's affairs, and living at their expense. Perhaps they saw it as a virtue: Jesus is coming back soon, why waste time working? And in a community of love, why not give others the chance to love me by funding my lifestyle?
In reality, idleness undermines brotherly love, breeds resentment and gives a bad image to outsiders. Public opinion already viewed this church with suspicion, and a reputation for people who meddle in everything did not help.
There is no doubt: when a believer is in need, we help. But we do not encourage someone to depend on others for a long time if they do not need to. A woman in the church he once led pointed out that he never spoke about idleness in his preaching, even though the Bible does. He realized he was avoiding it for fear of hurting people.
Some cannot take paid work. Others are looking for a job and live with great frustration, or find only work that is not enough to make them self-sufficient. The preacher does not want to point at anyone. But those who need this challenge often think it does not concern them: some say they cannot work when they mean they will not work, waiting for the ideal job at the expense of their parents or taxpayers.
The Bible has a far less romantic view of work. Being able to choose a job according to your gifts and temperament is a rare privilege in history. Our ambition should be a job that lets us avoid being an unnecessary burden on others. "Working to provide for our needs, if we can, is an act of love toward others, just as gladly supporting those who cannot is a work of God."
Rather than feeling superior by criticizing the welfare system, the preacher invites us to do something positive: pray that God will raise up Christian entrepreneurs who love creating jobs for young people. "Replacing pride with love is always part of Christian growth."
The gospel took root in Thessalonica: a community received the Word and the Spirit and began to live a countercultural life of love. The message ends with a prayer that the Spirit would strengthen us to seek holiness and love more and more.

Key takeaways

When God enters a life through the gospel, his Spirit gives the awareness that we must live in a way that pleases him.
Paul does not say "start over," he says "keep going, more and more." God loves to see the work of his Spirit in the lives of his children.
Sexual holiness is not deprivation: God calls us to keep our bodies in sanctification and honor, and he offers a new dignity to those who feel damaged.
We do not chase the darkness away, we open the curtains: the light of God's love, of his Word and of fellowship pushes back what is hidden.
Working so as not to be an unnecessary burden on others is an act of love, just as gladly supporting those who cannot is.

Personal application

In what area of your life do you tell yourself, like the teenage preacher, that you are "a special case"?
Do you truly believe that God's ways serve your flourishing, or do you suspect him of wanting to deprive you of something?
What is still hidden in the darkness, and with which trusted friend or pastor could you "open the curtains"?
How could you love a brother or sister in your church in a concrete way this week: a visit, a meal, a prayer, some childcare?
Does your relationship to work and money place a burden on others that you could carry yourself?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

What does "more and more" mean in 1 Thessalonians 4?

Paul acknowledges that the Thessalonians are already living in a way that pleases God. He does not condemn them, he encourages them: "You are already doing it, keep going, more and more." For Tom Parsons, God loves to see the work of his Spirit in the lives of his children, and each person can move forward from where they are.

How can we fight desires that pull us away from holiness?

Tom Parsons draws on a scene from Patricia St John's novel: you do not chase the darkness out of a room, you open the curtains and the light comes in. It is not about denying your desires, but about coming to Jesus, remembering the Father's love and the gift of the Spirit, and bringing into the light what is hidden with a trusted friend or a pastor.

Why does Paul ask us to work with our hands?

In Thessalonica, some were living at others' expense while meddling in everything. According to Tom Parsons, idleness undermines brotherly love, breeds resentment and harms our witness. Working to provide for our needs, if we can, is an act of love, just as gladly supporting those who cannot is.