Pastor Steven J.

Cole
Flagstaff Christian Fellowship
123 S. Beaver Street
Flagstaff, Arizona 86001
www.fcfonline.org

PLEASING, OBEYING, GROWING

1 Thessalonians 4:1-2

By

Steven J. Cole

September 25, 2016

© Steven J. Cole, 2016

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture

Quotations are from the New American
Standard Bible, Updated Edition
© The Lockman Foundation
September 25, 2016
1 Thessalonians, Lesson 10

Pleasing, Obeying, Growing

1 Thessalonians 4:1-2
Some of you who are younger in your faith may be like the
boy that the late pastor, Ray Stedman, asked how old he was. The
boy quickly replied, “I’m twelve, going on thirteen, soon be four-
teen.” He was eager to grow! It’s always refreshing to see Christians
who are eager to grow spiritually. But as we grow older in the Lord,
it’s easy to drift into a humdrum spiritual life, where we lose the
eagerness to grow. The Christian life becomes routine, but the
freshness of our first love for Christ fades (Rev. 2:1-7).
The same thing can happen in marriage. Obviously, no one
can maintain the euphoria that we had when we first fell in love.
But even so, we shouldn’t drift into a routine relationship, where
the romance has faded away. But to keep the romance alive takes
work and effort. The same is true spiritually. To keep your love for
the Lord Jesus fresh requires deliberate effort.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, we move into the instructional or ethical
part of the letter. Paul has shown them how much he cares for
them. He was concerned for their spiritual stability under the per-
secution that they were enduring. Now, he addresses some con-
cerns that Timothy had brought back after his recent visit there. He
will address moral purity (4:3-8); love of the brethren and the need
to work for a living (4:9-12); the Lord’s return and the events sur-
rounding that time (4:13-5:11); and some matters concerning con-
duct in the church (5:12-22). In our text, he introduces all of these
practical matters with an exhortation to continue growing in the
Lord. Specifically, we learn:
To grow in your walk with the Lord, seek to please Him by
learning and obeying His commandments.
“Finally, then” signals the transition to a new section of the
letter. Paul is probably taking in the entire flow of thought from
chapters 2 & 3 (Robert Thomas, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary
[Zondervan], ed. by Frank Gaebelein, 11:269-270). But, specifically,
he is expanding on 3:10-13, providing what is still lacking in their

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faith because of his sudden, forced removal from their midst (G.
K. Beale, 1-2 Thessalonians [IVP Academic], p. 112). He wants them
to abound more in love (4:9-10; 5:12-15) and he wants their hearts
to be established without blame in holiness (4:3-8) at the Lord’s
coming (4:13-5:11).
John Stott (The Message of 1 & 2 Thessalonians [IVP Academic],
p. 76) argues, “One of the great weaknesses of contemporary evan-
gelical Christianity is our comparative neglect of Christian ethics, in
both our teaching and our practice.” Clearly the apostle Paul taught
these new believers, many from pagan backgrounds, many things
about Christian moral behavior. He refers (1 Thess. 4:1) to how
“you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and
please God.” He adds (v. 2), “For you know what commandments
we gave you.”
Regarding Christian sexual ethics, he reminds them (4:6), “just
as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.” Regarding
the Christian responsibility to work and provide for one’s own
needs, he adds (4:11), “just as we commanded you.” When he deals
with the need to be alert with godly living in light of the Lord’s
coming, he tells them (5:1), “You have no need of anything to be
written to you.” Paul had taught them much in a short time about
Christian ethics. Regarding the first two verses of chapter 4, Stott
(p. 78) says that it is noteworthy both for its authoritative tone and
for its emphasis on pleasing God as the foundation for Christian
ethical behavior. We learn five things here about pleasing, obeying,
and growing in the Lord:
1. To walk in a way that is pleasing to God, you must be “in
the Lord Jesus” through believing the gospel.
Paul writes (1 Thess. 4:1), “Finally then, brethren, we request
and exhort you in the Lord Jesus ….” The fact that he calls them
“brethren” (or, “brothers and sisters”) indicates that these people
had experienced the new birth. The Holy Spirit had imparted new
life to them (John 3:3-8; 1 Pet. 1:3), so that now they were in God’s
family, brothers and sisters with all who believe in Christ. At the
moment of the new birth, the Spirit places all who believe in Jesus
into His body, the church (1 Cor. 12:13). Paul often refers to our
new relationship with God as being “in Christ” (Eph. 1:3, 4, 6, 7,

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12, 13, etc.). It is to those in that new sphere of spiritual reality that
he gives this exhortation.
I find that many Christians do not understand that “praying
the sinner’s prayer” or “making a decision to receive Christ” do not
necessarily indicate that the person has been born again. This is
especially true of Christian parents. Their teenager is living as a re-
bellious pagan, but the parents will say, “But he’s a Christian, be-
cause he accepted Jesus as his Savior at summer camp when he was
a child.” Or, “He prayed to receive Christ and was baptized.” But,
there has been very little, if any, evidence that God has imparted
new life to that young person.
Believing in Jesus as your personal Savior is more than mental
assent to the gospel, while you continue to live for all that the
world and the flesh can offer. To truly believe in Jesus means that
God has changed your heart. Your desires are different than they
were before. Now, you love God, rather than being indifferent to-
wards Him. You delight in His Word, which is food for your soul.
You hate your sin, turn from it, and strive to be more like Jesus,
who is holy. You seek to obey the Lord and please Him out of
thankfulness for the grace that He has given to you.
Thus Paul’s instruction here applies only to those who are “in
the Lord Jesus” through repenting of their sins and believing the
gospel. That changes these commands from being burdensome to
be a blessing from a loving Savior. It changes our motivation from
striving to earn God’s favor to wanting to please Him because we
are the objects of His favor. It’s the difference between a maid who
cleans a man’s house and does his laundry because it’s her job and
a wife who does these tasks out of love for her husband who loves
her. So, to walk in a way that is pleasing to God, you must be “in
the Lord Jesus” through believing the gospel.
2. The Christian life is a walk.
If you don’t have a translation that uses the word “walk,” at
least in a marginal note, you need a more literal translation. Paul
often uses this metaphor to describe the Christian life, and it’s
helpful to think about it. In the first place, it’s not a leap, although
we may wish it were. We don’t get where we need to be in one

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quick, sudden flash. It takes time to walk somewhere and it takes
time to grow in the Lord.
Also, the Christian life is not an effortless flight, where you soar
above all the problems below. Sometimes it is presented this way:
When you learn the “secret” of “letting go and letting God,” your
striving ceases. Like a bird at the Grand Canyon, you glide above
the rugged terrain below, riding effortlessly on the currents. If
you’re struggling against sin or wrestling with discouragement,
there must be something wrong. If you’re exerting effort, you must
not be trusting or resting in God.
One time over 40 years ago, I heard a man whose teaching
was along these lines. In his message, he indicated that his times in
God’s Word were always rich and profitable. I went up to him after
his message and asked, “Don’t you ever have times when you don’t
get anything out of the verses that you read that day?” He wagged
his finger at me and said, “Young man, if you expect nothing from
God, you’ll get it every time!”
But the picture of walking with God implies some effort. Last
Monday, Marla and I walked from the Snow Bowl at 9,500 feet
elevation almost five miles to the top of Mount Humphries at
12,633 feet. I assure you that that required a lot of effort! From the
top, I watched the ravens soaring on the currents and wished I had
their ability to fly. That walk was hard and there were many places
where we could have twisted an ankle on rocks. But a step by step
walk was the only way to get to that mountaintop.
If you’re walking closely with someone, it provides an oppor-
tunity for getting to know that person better. You can talk about
many things. You can ask advice for problems that you’re going
through. As believers, we get to know God through His Word. We
share our hearts with Him through prayer. We walk with Him daily
by spending time alone with Him.
The destination or goal of our walk is not a mountaintop, but
rather, conformity to Jesus Christ. We move steadily toward be-
coming holy, as He is holy. We grow to become more like Him in
His character qualities. We are to “walk by the Spirit” so that we do
“not carry out the desire of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16), but rather devel-
op the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23): “Love, joy, peace, patience,

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kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Paul
says (Col. 2:6), “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk in Him.”
In Ephesians, Paul repeatedly uses the “walk” metaphor to
show different aspects of the Christian life. He says (Eph. 2:10),
that we are to walk in the good works which God prepared for us
beforehand. He adds (Eph. 4:1) that we are to “walk in a manner
worthy of the calling with which [we] have been called.” We are
not to walk (Eph. 4:17-18) “as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility
of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded
from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, be-
cause of the hardness of their heart.” Rather (Eph. 5:2), we are to
“walk in love, just as Christ also loved you.” This means (Eph. 5:8-
10) that we are to “walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the
Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying
to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.” And (Eph. 5:15-16), “Be
careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the
most of your time, because the days are evil.”
Occasionally, Paul uses the analogy of the Christian life as a
race that we run (1 Cor. 9:24-27; Gal. 2:2; Phil. 2:16; implied in 2
Tim. 4:7; cf. Heb. 12:1), which has some useful lessons. But more
often, it’s a walk: a steady, step-by-step, somewhat unspectacular
journey toward a chosen destination, which is holiness. There are
occasional setbacks, but if you get back up and keep going, you’ll
make progress. The question is, “Are you walking with God?”
3. If you are in the Lord Jesus, it is necessary to walk in a
manner pleasing to Him.
Paul says (1 Thess. 4:1), “You received from us instruction as
to how you ought to walk and please God.” “Ought” comes from a
Greek word meaning, “it is necessary” or “one must.” It refers to
inner necessity or the compulsion of duty (A Greek-English Lexicon
of the New Testament [University of Chicago Press], by William Arndt
and Wilbur Gingrich, 2nd ed., p. 172). It means that we’re not free
to decide how we want to live as Christians. We have been bought
with the blood of Christ. We’re his slaves, not our own bosses. We
are under obligation to live in a way that glorifies and pleases Him
(1 Cor. 6:18-20).

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 A popular book on the Christian life pits pleasing God against
trusting God, saying that we must choose one or the other as the
primary and ultimate motive of our hearts (TrueFaced [NavPress],
by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNichol, & John Lynch, p. 37). It portrays
pleasing God as a life of striving to earn His approval, whereas
trusting Him means acting on the basis of His complete acceptance
of us in Christ. But that’s a false and misleading dichotomy. In fact,
it is God’s gracious, undeserved acceptance of us in Christ that
motivates us to live in a manner that is pleasing to Him. Trusting
God and pleasing Him are complementary, not in competition.
Picture a child living in the squalor of a poorly funded third
world orphanage. He’s dirty and malnourished, with several health
issues. He’s not a squeaky clean Gerber baby! A wealthy couple
from America who aren’t able to have children, but who desperate-
ly want them, visit that orphanage and pick out that baby to be
their child. They bring him to their home, provide the necessary
food and medical care to nurture him to health, and shower him
with their love. As he grows up and learns about the horrible situa-
tion that his parents rescued him from, that child should be moti-
vated to please them, not to earn their love, but because they have
already abundantly bestowed their love upon him.
Pleasing God begins on the heart or thought level. Jesus con-
stantly hit the Pharisees because they put on a good show outward-
ly and honored God with their rituals, but their hearts were far
from Him (Mark. 7:6-23; Matt. 23:1-36). He emphasized the need
for inner purity when He said that if we lust after a woman in our
hearts, in God’s sight we have committed adultery with her (Matt.
5:27-30). Paul says (Rom. 8:8), “Those who are in the flesh cannot
please God.” Thus to please God, we must have experienced the
new birth (as I said earlier), where God changes our hearts.
Paul said (2 Cor. 5:9), “Therefore we also have as our ambi-
tion, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” In the
context, he means that in this life and in view of standing before
the Lord at the judgment, his constant aim was to please the Lord.
That should be our aim as well.
Thus, to walk in a way that is pleasing to the Lord, you first
must be in Him through believing the gospel. Then you must walk
with Him in a manner pleasing to Him.
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4. Even when you are walking in a manner pleasing to the
Lord, there is always room for growth.
Paul acknowledges that the Thessalonians are actually walking
so as to please God, but then he encourages them (4:1), to “excel
still more.” We never get to a place where we can say, “I’ve arrived!
Now I’m fully conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. I don’t need
to grow anymore!” The prophet Hosea (6:3) exhorted, “So let us
know, let us press on to know the Lord.” Paul applies this verse to
himself (Phil. 3:12-14):
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become
perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which
also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not re-
gard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies
ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward
call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul wrote that about 25 years after he had become a Chris-
tian! If he still felt the need to press on in the Lord, how much
more do we all need to keep growing! If you’re stagnant or in a rut
in your walk with the Lord, do whatever it takes to start growing
again! Root out any secret sins. Seek to get right in all your relation-
ships. Make a commitment to get up a little earlier in the morning
to meet with the Lord. Get a good book on the spiritual life and
read it prayerfully. Change whatever you must to grow in the Lord!
5. The way that we excel still more in our walk with God is
to learn and obey His commandments.
After exhorting the Thessalonians to excel still more, Paul
adds (1 Thess. 4:2), “For you know what commandments we gave
you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.” Paul emphasizes that he
wasn’t the one making up these commandments. Rather, they came
(literally), “through the Lord Jesus.” As he repeats (1 Thess. 4:8),
“So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives
His Holy Spirit to you.” Briefly, note four things:
A. To obey God’s commandments, we first must know
them.
Paul had already told them many of these commands. We
have God’s commands written in His Word. We’re not under all of
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the Old Testament commands, since the old covenant was super-
seded by the new covenant (Heb. 8:6-13). But nine of the Ten
Commandments are repeated in the New Testament. Some Chris-
tians argue that we are still under the Sabbath commandment, with
Sunday becoming the Christian Sabbath. My understanding is that
the Old Testament Sabbath was fulfilled by Jesus Christ (Hebrews
4). We are instructed not to neglect gathering together as believers
(Heb. 10:25), but Paul makes it clear that we are free to observe or
not observe one day above another (Rom. 14:5-6; cf. Gal. 4:10-11;
Col. 2:16-17).
All of God’s commandments are summed up in the two great
commandments, to love God with all our hearts and to love our
neighbor as we love ourselves (Matt. 22:37-40). But you need to
study God’s Word to learn specifically how those two command-
ments are to be obeyed in every situation.
B. To obey God’s commandments is not legalism; it is the
response to His grace.
When I teach the necessity of obedience to God’s command-
ments, invariably someone either thinks or tells me, “That’s legal-
ism! But we’re under grace!” If you’re thinking that, you don’t un-
derstand either legalism or grace. Paul wrote (Titus 2:11-12), “For
the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, in-
structing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live
sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.” God’s grace
teaches us to be obedient! It motivates us to be obedient. Freedom
in Christ is not freedom to follow the lusts of the flesh, but rather,
freedom from sin (John 8:31-36).
C. God’s commandments aren’t helpful hints for happy liv-
ing—they’re orders that must be obeyed.
Paul has already said that he was exhorting them “through the
Lord Jesus,” implying the Lord’s authority. The Greek noun (v. 2,
“commandments”) refers especially to the transmitted orders of a
military commander (G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Geek Lexicon of
the New Testament [Charles Scribner’s Sons], p. 156). Although sol-
diers don’t always understand orders, they must obey them, trust-
ing that the commander knows things that they don’t know. The
Bible’s commandments have the wisdom of the omniscient Creator

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behind them and are given so that we can win the battle against the
enemy of our souls. They aren’t optional suggestions. They’re
God’s authoritative commands that we must obey.
D. God’s commandments come from Him and are not cul-
turally relative.
Paul didn’t make them up himself. They come to us from the
Lord Jesus, who is the only source of absolute moral truth. Our
culture does not believe in absolute moral truth, and that error has
infiltrated the church. Fifty years ago, no Christian would have
thought that homosexual behavior was morally acceptable. But
today many who profess to be Christians, especially those under
30, think that as long as the partners love each other, homosexual
relations are okay. They also think that it’s okay to have sex outside
of marriage as long as you are in love. There are other areas where
Christians have compromised God’s absolute standards because
they have drifted with our culture rather than obeyed God’s word.
Jesus claimed to be the truth and to be the source of truth
(John 8:31-32; 14:6). He prayed (John 17:17), “Sanctify them in the
truth; Your word is truth.” If we start bending God’s word to make
it fit with our godless culture, we will not grow in our walk with
God. We will not please Him or help to further His kingdom and
righteousness (Matt. 6:33). We must obey His commands, even
when they are counter-cultural.
Conclusion
My main concern in this message is for you if you’ve become
spiritually apathetic and you’re not growing. The longer you’re a
Christian, the easier it is to become routine in your relationship
with the Lord and lose the freshness of walking daily with Him. I
encourage you to do whatever it takes to get back on the path of
pleasing God, obeying God, and growing in Him. As you get into
His word each day, ask Him to apply it to your heart. “For this is
the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His com-
mandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).

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 Application Questions
1. Why is “making a decision to accept Christ” not necessarily the
same as being born again? Why is this distinction important?
2. What are the essential ingredients in a walk with God?
3. Why is pleasing God not a matter of earning His favor? Look
up all the references to pleasing God to study this concept.
4. Why is obedience to God’s commandments not legalism?
What is legalism? What does it mean to live by God’s grace?
Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2016, All Rights Reserved.

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