1 THESSALONIANS LESSON 5


     We will begin this lesson in I Thessalonians 4:1 "Furthermore
then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort [you] by the Lord Jesus,
that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God,
[so] ye would abound more and more."

     We see in this that Paul is calling them to walk holy before
their God. There is only one way to walk that is pleasing to God. That
is to walk on the straight and narrow path of righteousness. You might
even explain it as walking in the footprints Jesus has left for us.
Paul reminds them that Christianity is a daily walk. The word "abound"
in this particular instance would mean to live therein. This is
speaking of steadfastness in the Lord. Paul has explained and preached
before to them about walking uprightly before God. He taught them that
the only way to please God is to have faith in Him and walk in His
ways. We should, like these people, try to please God and not
ourselves. The word "furthermore" shows us that this chapter is
directly connected to the chapter before. This is just a further
explanation of what God expects from each of us. True, salvation is a
free gift. We do not do anything to earn it. It is, however, up to us
to walk in the salvation that has been given us. We must walk in
newness of life. We must desire to please God in all that we do.

     I Thessalonians 4:2 "For ye know what commandments we gave you by
the Lord Jesus."

     Paul is saying, in this, the commandments were God's. He explains
that he was the messenger that God sent them by. Everything Paul said
to them was as an oracle of God. The Spirit of God put the Words in
Paul's mouth and Paul spoke them.

     I Thessalonians 4:3 "For this is the will of God, [even] your
sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:"

     Sanctification, in this verse, means purification or holiness.
This means that God Himself has purified them for Himself. We are set
aside for God's purposes when we are sanctified. We may be in the
world, but we are no longer of this world. We are in Christ and He is
in us.  Abstain, means to hold oneself off. It also means refrain.
Fornication means, adultery, incest, idolatry, or harlotry of any
kind. This includes homosexual and lesbian acts. We see the
seriousness of sexual sin. It is adultery in the physical, but
spiritual adultery is included as being forbidden. It is covered in
idolatry. Stay away from spiritual adultery and physical adultery, is
what Paul is saying.

     I Thessalonians 4:4 "That every one of you should know how to
possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;"

     The vessel, here, is our body we are housed in. This is really
saying, let your spirit rule over your flesh. Paul, in Corinthians had
said we have this treasure in earthen vessels. The flesh of man came
from the earth. This then, is speaking of the flesh of mankind. To
posses anything, means you have control over it. This is what is being
said then, Have control over your flesh and walk holy before your
Lord.

     I Thessalonians 4:5 "Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as
the Gentiles which know not God:"

     Concupiscence, means longing for what is forbidden, or lust. The
Gentiles, here, are speaking of those who are not Christians. Gentile
believers are the spiritual house of Israel. This is speaking of those
who are not saved. The Gentiles who know not God are doing whatever is
pleasing to the flesh.

     I Thessalonians 4:6 "That no [man] go beyond and defraud his
brother in [any] matter: because that the Lord [is] the avenger of all
such, as we also have forewarned you and testified."

     This is speaking of going beyond the fraud. It includes sin of
all kind. This is just saying do not sin against your brother. God
sees everything we do against anyone. He especially watches over the
brethren. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord.

     I Thessalonians 4:7 "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness,
but unto holiness."

     This uncleanness is not in the physical sense. This is
uncleanness of the heart. It is not the dirt on the outside of man
which destroys him, it is having an unclean heart. Our call is to be a
sermon to others in the way we conduct our daily lives.

     I Thessalonians 4:8 "He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not
man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit."

     When we despise man, we are despising God's creation, because God
made man. When we despise the creation of God, we are actually finding
fault with the Creator, who made this creation. It is impossible for
flesh man not to despise, but when we become spirit man, with the Holy
Spirit dwelling within us, the Spirit within us knows only love. He
loves the unloveable through us.

     I Thessalonians 4:9 "But as touching brotherly love ye need not
that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one
another."

     The great commandment that Jesus gave unto us was to love God
with everything within us. The second commandment was like unto it.
Look with me at what it is. Matthew 22:39 "And the second [is] like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."  This is printed
in red in my Bible which means that Jesus, Himself said this. The
brotherly love spoken of above is loving your brother as you do
yourself. Paul says, Jesus made it so clear, there is no need for me
to add to that.

     I Thessalonians 4:10 "And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren
which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye
increase more and more;"

     Paul is saying to them that the type of love that they have for
their fellows in the church there is very good. He just wants them to
expand that type of love to all of humanity. It is easy for us to love
our neighbors that we see every day. We understand them. Paul is
saying, love the stranger, whom you do not have much in common with.

     I Thessalonians 4:11 "And that ye study to be quiet, and to do
your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded
you;"

     We are seeing in this a description of the character traits that
will follow those who are believers in Christ. Proverbs 9:13  "A
foolish woman [is] clamorous: [she is] simple, and knoweth nothing."
It is impossible to learn if you are talking all the time. Be a good
listener and thereby show that you are wise in the Lord. We should
never take on someone else's work to do. We should be doing {to the
best of our ability} the job that God has called us to do. I, for one,
want to be found working when the Lord comes to get me. God has a job
for each of us to do. It is not the same job as someone else. It is
unique in the fact that you are the only one called to do that
specific job. Find out what the will of God is for your life and get
busy doing it.

     I Thessalonians 4:12 "That ye may walk honestly toward them that
are without, and [that] ye may have lack of nothing."

     The only contact that some people have with God is, the God they
see operating in your life. You are a living witness by the way you
conduct your life. If you live Christ-like before them, they see
Christ in your walk. If you walk the worldly life, you lead them to
destruction.

     I Thessalonians 4:13 "But I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even
as others which have no hope."

     The hope spoken of here, is the hope of the resurrection. Those
who have not accepted Jesus as their Saviour, have no hope, because He
is Life. Ignorant would mean uninformed, in the verse above. This is
the beginning verse of Scriptures that are used at many funerals to
comfort those who have lost loved ones. One of the greatest promises
made to those who believe is that the death of the body is not eternal
death of the spirit. Because Jesus arose from the grave, all believers
in Christ will arise with Him to new life in Him. There should not
really be sorrow for a Christian who sheds this sinful flesh and goes
to live eternally with God. Paul is speaking here of the Christians
who have died to this world. They have experienced physical death.

     I Thessalonians 4:14 "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with
him."

     My own personal belief about death is, the instant we draw our
last breath, our spirit goes to be in heaven with Jesus. Our body {the
house we moved out of} goes to the grave. That body was made from the
dust of the earth and it must return to dust. The real me is the
spirit that was housed in that body. There is a physical body and
there is a spiritual body. It is the spiritual body that rises. To
really understand this you must read 1 Corinthians chapter 15
beginning with verse 15. Read it all the way to the end of the
chapter. I will give just a sample of that here. I Corinthians 15:44
"It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a
natural body, and there is a spiritual body."  I Corinthians 15:45
" And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the
last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit." Notice the statement "will
God bring with Him". I believe the spirit of the Christian is with God
in heaven immediately after death. There is a later, resurrection of
the body. We do know, that even now the Martyred Christians are in
heaven crying how long. Revelation 6:10 "And they cried with a loud
voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"  We do know
that the body of Jesus came out of the tomb. We do know that it was
different enough that the disciples did not recognize His body. We do
know that the body still had the marks of the nails. We do know that
to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. {Read
2 Cor. chapter 5 verse 8.}

     I Thessalonians 4:15 "For this we say unto you by the word of the
Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord
shall not prevent them which are asleep."

     This was a revelation that Paul had gotten from God. Paul was
looking for the coming of the Lord to be at any second. Today it seems
even more evident that the coming of Christ is very near. There is a
generation of people who will be alive when the Lord Jesus comes. My
own personal belief is that it is our generation. It really does not
matter whether we go by the way of the grave, or whether we will be
living at His coming. If we are alive, we will be changed in the
twinkling of an eye. Flesh and blood do not inherit the kingdom, so
those living will have to be changed to an incorruptible, spiritual
body.

     I Thessalonians 4:16 "For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:"

     The trumpet that gathered the people, throughout the Bible was a
silver trumpet. This trump that is blown will be silver, because it
will redeem the people from this earth. Silver means redemption. The
reason there is no silver in heaven is because we have already been
redeemed. This is the last chronological mention of silver in the
Bible. The voice of the Lord and the trump are so enveloped in one,
that it is hard to separate the one from the other. We can see in the
following verse that many times the voice is spoken of as a trumpet.
Isaiah 58:1 "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet,
and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their
sins."  This shout will wake the dead.  This is the same shout that
brought Lazarus from the grave. The dead in Christ just means that
these will rise before the living in Christ who will be changed and
rise. In Jude, Michael is spoken of as the archangel. My belief is
that Michael is like a general under Jesus. Whether the archangel is
actually sounding or whether this is the voice of Jesus who is now
King of kings and Lord of lords, I am not certain. It really does not
matter. We know that this pure sound calls the Christians from the
earth.

     I Thessalonians 4:17 "Then we which are alive [and] remain shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."

     "We which are alive" is speaking of the Christians alive at the
coming of Christ who will be changed in the twinkling of an eye. I
Corinthians I Corinthians 15:51 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We
shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, "I Corinthians 15:52
"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed." 15:53 "For this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality."
I Corinthians 15:54 "So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory."

     I Thessalonians 4:18 "Wherefore comfort one another with these
words."

     Christians should have no fear of death. We should be comforted
to know that there is an eternity of life awaiting us with the Lord
Jesus. The beginning of the 14th chapter of John tells us exactly why
we should not let our heart be troubled or afraid. When a Christian
dies, we should celebrate their homegoing, not grieve deeply for their
departing. We are really grieving for us who were left behind.
















                     1 Thessalonians 5 Questions


1.  What kind of walk is Paul trying to get them to walk in verse 1?
2.  What is the only walk pleasing unto God?
3.  What does "abound" in verse 1 mean?
4.  What does the word "furthermore" in verse 1 tell us?
5.  Whose were these commandments that Paul was speaking to them?
6.  The ________ of God put the words in Paul's mouth and Paul spoke
    them.
7.  What does "sanctification" in verse 3 mean?
8.  What does "abstain" mean?
9.  What sins are covered in "fornication"?
10. What is spiritual adultery covered in?
11. What is the "vessel" spoken of in verse 4?
12. What does "possess" mean?
13. "Concupiscience" means what?
14. Who are the Gentiles in verse 5?
15. God hath not called us to ________________, but unto ___________.
16. When we despise God's creation, who are we really despising?
17. What was the second commandment that Jesus gave?
18. They were loving their brothers in all Macedonia, but what more
    were they to do?
19. Study to be ________.
20. Quote Proverbs chapter 9 verse 13.
21. We are to walk honestly toward them that are __________.
22. In verse 13 Paul said I would not have you to be ___________.
23. What is the hope spoken of in verse 13?
24. What does "ignorant" mean?
25. What is one of the greatest promises made to the believers, about
    death of the body?
26. Quote 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 14.
27. What is the authors personal opinion about death?
28. What two kinds of body do we have?
29. Where are the Martyred Christians now?
30. _______ and _______ do not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
31. What happens to the Christians who are alive when the Lord
    returns?
32. Who shall rise first?
33. What was the trumpet that gathered the people made of?
34. Why is it silver?
35. Who is called an archangel in Jude?
36. Quote 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 17.
37. Who is "we which are alive" speaking of?
38. This corruptible must put on ____________.
39. This mortal must put on ______________.
40. Why should we not fear death?