Live to Please God
Introduction
Paul wrote this letter to the church in Thessalonica, but it is certainly applicable to us 2000 years later.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 NLT
Live to Please God
4:1 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. 2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. 4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor— 5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. 6 Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before. 7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. 8 Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Examine the Scriptures:
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 NLT
Live to Please God
4:1 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus
“dear brothers and sisters”
“We urge you”
“in the name of the Lord Jesus” Paul taught with authority from Jesus Christ. Paul’s teaching carries divine authority, not just personal advice.
Paul is saying “This is important!”
to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you.
- Live in a way that pleases God.
“as we have taught you”
- Do what you know you should be doing.
- Scripture instructs us to live lives that please God.
2 Corinthians 5:9 NLT
9 So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him.
Ephesians 5:8-10 NLT
8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.
Ephesians 5:17 NLT
17 Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.
Pray
For us:
Psalm 19:14 NLT
14 May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
For others:
Colossians 1:9-10 NLT
9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.
The words “even more” show sanctification is a lifelong process—there is always room to grow in holiness and love.
2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy,
Set apart from sin.
Romans 6:6 NLT
6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.
To be holy is to belong fully to God — to live for His purposes, not just our own.
- “God’s will is for you to be holy.”
Ephesians 1:4 NLT
4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.
This means our values, priorities, and behavior should be different from the world’s — guided by God’s truth rather than culture or self-interest.
Romans 12:1-2 NLT
12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
so stay away from all sexual sin.
You have been set apart for God’s purposes and you need to be growing in moral purity.
For former pagans, the lure of sexual sins was strong.
In the first century moral standards were generally very low.
Sexual immorality was tolerated in the Mediterranean world.
Prostitution was allowed.
In many Greco-Roman cities (like Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome), temple prostitution was part of pagan religion.
In the Greco-Roman world, sexual immorality was common and socially accepted, so Paul’s teaching marked Christians as distinct.
Ephesians 5:3 NLT
3 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people.
- Stay away from all sexual sin.
4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—
Holiness begins in the body; what we do with our bodies matters to God.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20 NLT
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
2 Timothy 2:21 NLT
21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.
5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.
Ephesians 4:17-19 NLT
Living as Children of Light
17 With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.
- Don’t live like pagans.
A Christian, with God’s help, can overcome sexual temptations.
Knowing God is basic to living a holy life.
True knowledge of God transforms moral behavior.
6 Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife,
Sexual sin harms others besides those who engage in it.
Sexual sin is not private; it offends both God and others, resulting in destructive social and spiritual implications.
- Sexual sin doesn’t just defile the sinner; it harms others, violating trust and community.
for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before.
Colossians 3:5-7 NLT
5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. 6 Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. 7 You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world.
David experienced this.
2 Samuel 11:27 NLT
27 When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the Lord was displeased with what David had done.
2 Samuel 12:11 NLT
11 “This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, (referring to David’s sin with Bathsheba) I will cause your own household to rebel against you.
Hebrews 13:4 NLT
4 Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
- God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy,
- To live a holy life means to be devoted to God, transformed by His Spirit, guided by His Word, and marked by love and purity in every area of life.
God’s plan for a Christian includes purifying his life.
A holy life demonstrates God’s supernatural power at work overcoming what is natural and it glorifies God.
8 Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God,
Other translations of this verse:
Therefore, whoever rejects these instructions isn’t rejecting a human authority. They are rejecting God, (CEB)
So anyone who refuses to obey this teaching is refusing to obey God, not us. (ERV)
Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God (NIV)
The one who turns away from this teaching does not turn away from man, but from God. (NLV)
Sexual sin is against God.
- To reject Paul’s teaching on sex is to reject God’s teaching, the source of Paul’s instruction.
who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Galatians 5:16 NLT
Living by the Spirit’s Power
16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.
- The Holy Spirit enables us to avoid sexual immorality.
Holiness, then, is not achieved by self-effort but by yielding to the Spirit’s work within.
