Paul’s “How To” for Holy Living

I love a good “how to” video or article online! It is always such a cool thing to sit and watch or read the directions on how to do something new. I love following directions and seeing the finished product of my hard work!

I have recently revived a childhood hobby in my life – building Legos! I love it! All the pieces spread out on the table and a huge book of instructions on how to take hundreds or even thousands of tiny pieces and make them into something so lifelike! But the trick to successful Lego building is to follow the directions.

When I was a kid, I would just build with whatever I had on hand in my huge bucket of Legos. Now that I am older and much more mature, I keep all the pieces for each set separate so that I can easily follow the instructions to build exactly what is intended. 

Now that you know I am just a big kid, let me segue to my point here. The Bible is our Guidebook with all kinds of instructions on how to live a life that is pleasing to God. Let’s look today at one passage in 1 Thessalonians 5 that Paul uses to give us several quick-fire commands that give us the “how to” when it comes to holy living in this very wicked world.

​Paul is one of my favorite authors whom the Holy Spirit used to pen a significant portion of the New Testament. There are so many ways in which I personally relate to how Paul describes his own struggles in such a transparent way.

First Thessalonians is one of the first books written in the New Testament dating around AD 52-53. Paul’s audience is the church at Thessalonica and his letter to them was written probably a few months after he had visited them on his second missionary journey.

Timothy, Paul’s son in the faith, had brought a good report to Paul of the happenings of this church which prompted Paul to write a letter to encourage and challenge the believers there in their walk with the Lord. Chapter 4 contains the famous passage concerning the Rapture of the church and the comfort that we as believers should enjoy knowing that “we sorrow not even as others which have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Paul was already pointing the first-century believers to be eagerly anticipating the return of our Lord Jesus Christ and to use these truths to “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).

Paul then begins 1 Thessalonians 5 with some exhortations to the believers starting with an explanation of the Day of the Lord in verses 1-3. He then goes on the encourage the believers to be prepared for this day in 5:4-11. He takes 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15 to focus the believers’ attention on their responsibility within the church in the present day while they wait for the coming day of the Lord! Every believer is admonished concerning their relationships within the church, especially to those in authority (1 Thess. 5:12-13) and to their peers within the church (1 Thess. 5:14-15). After all, that teaching laying the context for this passage, we find ourselves at Paul’s instructions about “how to live a holy life” in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24. Paul’s “how to” is a series of commands that focus on personal and corporate living. Then, he finishes with the divine enablement for making this possible!

Paul gives three brief yet powerful commands in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 concerning personal living.

1. Rejoice evermore.
   First, “Rejoice evermore” (1 Thess. 5:16). God’s desire for all believers is that we are joyful people at all times.
   
   There is a difference between Biblical joy and the empty happiness the world tries to feed us. Joy comes from knowing the One who gives joy no matter the circumstance. Having incessant joy is not something that comes naturally. Paul often reminds us to rejoice, I think because it is not the natural response from our flesh. One commentator said that “A Christian’s joy does not spring from his circumstances, but from the blessings that are his because he is in Christ.” If you struggle to have incessant joy, especially in the midst of difficulty in life, ask the Lord for His help in this area. It is really a choice that we each make each and every day! Psalm 118:24 puts it this way – “This is the day which the Lord hath made; WE WILL REJOICE and be glad in it” (emphasis mine). Dr. Tom Farrell used to phrase it like this – “Make the CHOICE to REJOICE!”
   ​
2. Pray without ceasing.
   The second command concerning personal living is “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Simple right? I wish!
   
   It would be awesome if our first response to dealing with struggles in life were to pray. I think my natural response to this verse is more like “Worry without ceasing!” Is anybody with me? I know that is not what God desires for us in these times, but it takes spiritual discipline and submission to the Spirit in our lives to see success in obeying this step in Paul’s “how to” instructions. I think there is also an unmistakable connection between the rejoicing in verse 16 as well. Philippians 4:4, 6 seem to strengthen that position. Paul’s instructions include rejoicing and then praying. One will lend itself to the other. When I am rejoicing, then I will be much quicker to run to Christ in prayer.
   
   
3. In everything give thanks.
   The next step is also a follow on from the two previous ones as well. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 4:18).
   
   Rejoicing leads to prayer which should lead us to an attitude of gratitude. Notice Paul did not say FOR everything give thanks. He said IN everything. This is an important point because there are some things that are just plain hard. But we can come to the Lord in an attitude of thanksgiving even if we are not quite yet at the place where we are ready to thank Him FOR the difficulty.
   
   ​Paul completes this first section on personal living by stating that these things – rejoicing, praying, and thanking – are part of God’s will for you and me!

Paul then moves to commands for corporate living in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22. He uses two negative commands to start. “Quench not the Spirit” and “Despise not prophesyings” (1 Thess. 5:19-20). The Holy Spirit’s work in our lives is often compared to a fire. When we choose to ignore His work in our lives, we put that fire out and don’t allow Him to effectively work in us. Then he warns us not to overlook the messages from His Word in our lives.

​In order to live as God would have us live, we must heed both the Spirit’s work and God’s Word in our lives. This is the warning section of Paul’s “how to”! Then Paul gives three positive commands – “Prove all things,” “Hold fast that which is good,” and “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” In light of Paul’s warning about heeding the work of the Spirit and His Word, he then says we must put to the test or scrutinize all that we hear against the truth of God’s Word! There are those who would seek to draw us away from the truth so we must guard against that. When we have proven that the teaching we hear and read is in line with Scripture, then Paul tells us to “hold fast” to that!

And he completes this section on corporate living with an admonition to stay as far away from even the appearance of that which is evil. Separation from actual evil is an obvious thing, but Paul takes it a step further here to stay away from even that which might appear evil to others. The principle is essential to see how far away can I get from sin and remain pure even in appearance to others. Too often our attitude toward sin is more like seeing how close we can get without actually sinning. May we take heed to both the positive and negative aspects of Paul’s “how to” in this section?​

Now if you’re anything like me, at this point you are saying, “This is too much! It is impossible to do all these things all the time!” And that is exactly where you and I need to be at this point! Paul explains the power source for completing his “how to” instructions in 1 Thessalonians. ​

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Paul has given some very difficult commands here. But then he encourages us with a reminder that God is the very Producer of peace. He shares a prayer for these believers that they would be sanctified completely – this is not perfect sanctification since we won’t experience that until Heaven. But He is praying that believers would be set apart for His service and His work! He goes on to pray that the believers would be blameless – with no grounds for accusation – until the Lord comes back for us just as he described in chapter 4.

This whole “how to” section is wrapped up with the beautiful empowerment of 1 Thessalonians 5:24! God is One who called you and me to whatever we are facing! With that being true for those who are following the Lord, no matter what He calls me to do – including all the commands of this “how to” – He will empower you and me to complete that! What a comfort to know God has not left me to my own devices to figure this all out! You and I have a faithful God fighting for us!

Do you ever get to the end of a “how to” video and respond with “Yeah, that’s not even possible!”? I have! But this “how to” is not like that! Don’t leave this passage Scripture with anything but the comfort of knowing that there is nothing God has called you to that He will not empower you to do! Paul put it this way in Philippians 1.

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

You can do this with the help of the precious Holy Spirit in your life.

​May I encourage you today to follow the steps and call on the Lord for help and then give praise to our God with the finished product?