1 Thessalonians 4:9–12

Christ's second coming is transformative. It gives every moment eternal significance and empowers Christians with profound hope, urgency, and purpose. Discover this compelling truth about Christ's second coming through this series in Thessalonians and see how this changes everything.

Last week we began our scriptural hike through 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the first 12 verses. The main theme of these first 12 verses is sanctification. Say the word with me, sanctification.

More specifically, it's sanctification and how we love one another. That's really the aim of these first 12 verses. This is one of the things that changes about us as we understand that Christ is returning.

We walk through the first eight verses last week in this chapter and we saw primarily, beginning in verse 3, how we're not to love each other. In other words, the ways that we love each other that are wrong and that we're not to do those. We're going to see in these final four verses the ways to love each other rightly.

Of course, all of that is aimed at an overall take-home truth, or we've been calling it for this series a Thessalonian truth. Here it is right before you. This governs all 12 verses.

I'd like to ask you to read it with me together, church. Sanctification is continued obedience to Christ's commands and it is especially critical in sexual areas so that we love each other rightly, not wrongly, showcasing our true identity. I'd remind you just by way of review, we did see last week that this passage, the first eight verses, alerts us to this reality that sexual impurity is a danger to be avoided in our sanctification.

And we'll see in these last four verses that loving other Christians, loving one another, it's a practice to be pursued in our sanctification. So you can see all 12 verses really aim at sanctification in different ways. So let's dig into the final four verses, can we? You have your journals there, your Bibles.

Let's delight in these four ways that we're to love each other rightly. Let's get under the weight of the word. Here's 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 9 to 12.

God would say to us through the apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, about brotherly love, you don't need me to write to you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. In fact, you are doing this towards all the brothers and sisters in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, do this even more.

To seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone. Now, you'll spot right off the bat that the progression in these verses is very similar, if not exactly the same, as the previous eight verses. There is a what, there is a how, and there is why.

I'll show you a graphic. It will clarify it for you. It'll be very similar to last week's graphic.

Here are the verses that conclude the first 12. And again, we see the what, verses 9 and 10. We see the how, all contained in verse 11.

And we see the why in verse 12. So let's unpack these one by one, understanding this is aimed at helping us love each other rightly. That's part of our sanctification.

Let's examine the what first, shall we? It's in verses 9 and 10. It's pretty clear, not hard to understand. It is brotherly love.

You see it there, the second word and the third word, right? He says about brotherly love. And then of course, he repeats himself in verse 9, love one another. And so the what is quite clear, isn't it? It's to love one another.

Notice that about this what, or about loving each other or brotherly love, he says this, it is divinely taught. This is a very intriguing concept that he says you are taught by God. Literally, he just says God taught.

Now there's multiple ways this is happening in that church of the first century, those Thessalonian believers, that happens today as well. I think he's speaking here, first of all, of the example of Jesus. Jesus loved us.

We see how he loved us. And so we're taught by that. He's speaking here of exhortation, the apostles encouraging, commanding the first church, the early church, and those who follow in their footsteps to love one another.

That's exhortation. But I think the real heartbeat of this word is a reference to the teaching or illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit. And Paul here has pointed to something, and I don't want to say it's intuitive, like it's up to you.

I would rather say it's supernatural. And that there are moments the Holy Spirit empowers you to love in ways that aren't just natural. He gives you promptings and leadings and insight into how to meet needs in moments that often, it's clear this is Holy Spirit taught.

It's God taught. The Holy Spirit is the presence of God indwelling you for the purpose of illuminating you to scripture, gifting you for moments when God's presence needs to be manifest and his power seen. So I think this is a reference to those kinds of moments and opportunities when loving each other is clearly a supernatural manifestation of God's Holy Spirit.

It's a moment when God is teaching us how to love. And apparently in this text, they were doing that because he says, you are doing this. So this idea of loving each other, brotherly love, it's divinely taught, but it was currently done by this church.

And notice that this is an interesting thing. He says they did it in all the region of Macedonia. Now Thessalonica was the capital city of this province, this region of Macedonia, included places like Philippi, Berea, a pretty large area, a radius of well over a hundred miles, and they weren't transporting themselves like we are today.

So to think about a church loving a region, that's pretty remarkable, isn't it? This is amazing. Now maybe you're wondering, how did they do that? Here's what I think would be the most historical way to understand this phrase. I think this is a reference to tangible, I'll use the word financial giving, to churches in Macedonia who were in great need, and to the church in Jerusalem which was undergoing a famine.

Now if I were to take you to 2 Corinthians and some other passages, I would show you that the churches in Macedonia were actually very generous, even though they were impoverished. Other passages will lead us to understand that the Thessalonians here not only gave to the Macedonian believers in their need, they also gave to the situation in Jerusalem. It was an offering which Paul collected.

So I think what he's saying here is, your love was so strong and tangible that it exhibited itself in a Holy Spirit fashion through generosity, and it extended to places that perhaps you couldn't get to physically. But through generosity, through Holy Spirit empowered sacrifice, your love was felt a hundred miles or more away. It's a beautiful description of the way this church loved one another.

And this is the what that verse 10 refers to, a growing spiritual selfless, watch this, tangible love, as opposed and in contrast to what the first eight verses talked about, which would be an escalating physical selfish kind of love. This is what he says he wanted them to grow in, and that's the how section. So let's look at verse 11.

All of these next few phrases are contained in this singular verse. It is really the how section. It's how we're to love each other.

It's how we're to approach brotherly love. The first one is this, do this even more. And to be more literal to the text, it's to do this even more.

Now I bring that to your attention because you're going to notice these four phrases in verse 11, they're all infinitive phrases. And if you were here last week and you're a good student, you'll remember that last week's four phrases were what they were infinitive phrases as well. Each of these serve as imperatives.

You listened to the podcast last week. I mentioned they're called infantile imperatives. That's a little nerdiness for you, but these are all phrases.

There's four last week. There's four this week. The four last week helped us understand how not to love each other.

Here are four phrases to help us know how to love each other. And his first one is to do this even more. And I want to give you four keywords again, one word for each phrase, just like it did last week.

And the keyword for this first phrase is the word crescendo. Say it with me. Crescendo.

This is not hard to understand. It simply means to continue with an increase. Paul didn't say stop this and do something else.

He says, you are doing this, but I want you to do this more and more. And he uses the word twice there, doesn't he? So increase at what you're doing. And I don't think he necessarily only means quantity.

This is good news for us. He actually probably means more so quality, consistency, fervency. He wants them to stay at it and get better at it.

He's saying, make your goal to do more of the main thing that we're known for, loving one another. Now, lest we miss the simplicity of this, consider a married couple. Perhaps consider your own marriage.

No spouse ever says, I loved my spouse today. Check. At least no smart spouse.

It's not a box that we complete. We pursue loving our spouse continually, consistently. We want to love our spouse better with more fervency, better quality.

Yes, quantity. But there's a sense in which we don't check a box off and say we loved. We're always continuing to learn about our spouse so that we can love our spouse better.

And this is the same principle in play in the church. It's how we love one another more and more. Now, I think the remaining three phrases that make up verse 11 actually tell us how to do this, how to love each other more and more.

All four together answer the question, how do we love each other? Yes, they address the topic of brotherly love, which is in the larger realm of sanctification. All that's true. But if you were to ask my opinion on these final three phrases, I think they lean really into how to love each other more and more.

So look at the second phrase. He says to seek to lead a quiet life here. Think of the word contentment.

Say with me contentment. So the first phrase was crescendoing here. Contentment.

He says to lead a quiet life. And the point of the word quiet isn't to talk less. It's to rest more.

Don't think external silence. Think internal stillness. Women are told to have a meek and quiet spirit.

Paul's not saying there women don't talk. He's saying women relax, stay calm, have a demeanor that's contented. In other words, you're not someone, speaking to all of us now from this text, who's always looking, you know, for something to finally make you happy or the person who can finally give you what you've really been looking for.

The next big thrill, Paul describing the opposite of the FOMO person, the fear of missing out. Know someone like that? There's always gazing for the next big moment. Adrenaline's their favorite word.

No, Paul here is describing the SWE person. What is that? It's the opposite of the FOMO person. SWE.

Satisfied with what I have. That's who we ought to be, right? That's what it means to lead a quiet life. Now, let me remind you, there is a great and timeless wisdom in focusing on what you have, not on what you don't have.

Don't focus on that. And here's why. Discontentment is the fertilizer of jealousy, and jealousy is the breeding ground for sin.

James even says that sin is conceived when we're drawn away and enticed by our own lust. That's another word for jealousy. So when you're discontent, be aware you're ripe for temptation.

Isn't this so true in relation to sexual sin? So do you see now here why Paul not only urged against certain sexual types of behavior, but now he's urging a certain kind of right loving that would keep us away from sexual sin. Be content. Accept what is with gratefulness.

When you do, you'll grow in your love of the people that are part of the what is. You'll stop overlooking them and you'll begin loving them more and more because you're seeing them. You're savoring them.

You're actually satisfied with them. I remember several years ago attending a pastoral conference and hearing words that I'll never forget. They changed me progressively and slowly, but they did change me.

They changed my perspective. The guy speaking said, stop pastoring the church you want. Pastor the church you have, and you'll eventually pastor the church you want.

I was convicted by that. I returned and just committed to pastoring the church I have. And you know, he never was encouraging us to lead without vision.

That wasn't the point, but he was telling us how to lead with vision. It's with humility and the right kind of contentment. We all walk together.

No one's got it down yet. We're all in process in different places. And while we want to push each other and encourage each other, hold accountable.

I'm not minimizing any of that. Can we just admit no one can make anybody change? Can someone say amen? There's a point in which with your family and your friends, your church, you just walk together. You stay together and you stick together.

You don't look for the next really green pasture. After all, it's not greener on the other side. It's greener where you water it.

Some of you should quit looking over the fence and get the hose out and water your own yard. You'd find your contentment would rise and you would be able to lead a quiet life. Let's put a rise on statement three, can we? He thought that was personal.

Here, this one, he says to mind your own business. It's escalating, isn't it? Think containment. Here's our three words again, crescendo, contentment, and now containment.

The word mind here is used all 40 or so times approximately in the New Testament. The vast majority of times it's used, it's actually translated do. It's an active word.

Paul here is saying do your own business, commit to your own circle of affairs. This is a good translation, mind your own business, but he's not thinking just a mental capacity. He's saying let your life be centered on really what's in your area of focus.

In plain and modern terms, you're ahead of me here, don't put your nose where it doesn't belong. This is what Paul is saying. Don't try and sniff out something where there is no smell.

And if there is a smell that's kind of odd, is it even in your realm of snifthority? How many of you remember the movie Homeward Bound? Remember Chance? There's a scene where he is sure the porcupine smells great. He starts chasing it and following it, and the porcupine comes in contact with Chance's nose, and several needles, which are actually barbs, they get implanted into his nose. And the scene, of course, is him whimpering and whining, and then a cat comes and pulls him out.

Totally fictitious and great movie, right? What smells good from a distance may actually be harmful if you get too close. Keep your nose in your own business. Now listen very carefully.

This is not an injunction against being honestly and sincerely inquisitive. Curiosity is not a bad thing, but when curiosity becomes intrusive, it can kill the cat. Paul here is warning against a selfish intrusiveness, prying into problems that aren't under your purview, that doesn't solve problems.

So as the scripture says here in verse 11, mind your own business. Can I share with you some phrases that have tipped me off at times to porcupine situations? Times when I'm alerted that, oh, I might be nearing something that I just want to kind of distance myself from. Phrases like this, hey, did you hear, or guess what I found out, or you'll never believe what so and so told me.

Phrases like that, they can alert you. I might want to tread with caution in this conversation. And here's a practice that I've been utilizing.

I'm not great at this, but this has helped me a ton. I'll just share it with you. Some of you have actually experienced this.

In a conversation that turns that direction and I need to exit, if I find out information, but then suddenly I feel like I need to call or inquire about or follow up on that I wasn't planning to, I'll say to that person, hey, I didn't know that until you said that, but I want to check in with him and I'm going to let them know that you're the one who told me that. If I can get that phrase in before they start talking, they usually stop talking. If they say it and I'm kind of caught like rats, I wish I could have prevented this.

I'll say that they always back to train up. Well, that's not really what was said. Well, that's not really what happened.

Oh, hey, wait a second. I'll call them. It's amazing when you live a life with no end around conversations, people will either shut up or they'll act right.

I would encourage you in all your conversations. If something comes up like that, just say, hey, you know, I didn't know that I want to check with them and let them know you told me that because I think they'd like to know we ought to help there. We should do something about that.

It's a good way to keep your nose in your own business. So let me be Windex clear in Midwestern Plain here. We can love each other more and more if we pay attention to what is our business and refuse to give time to what is not our business.

Now, how and why does this work? It's quite simple. By paying attention to what's our business, we free up time to love other people more and more because we're not taking up time with other people's business in the wrong way. So this makes really biblical and common sense to mind your own business actually frees up your time to love others in the right way more and more.

Now, listen, I want to warn you, don't twist this. Don't turn this around. This is not to be a cloak for like some kind of selfishness or unawareness.

This is not an excuse to stick your head in the sand and avoid actually helping people like to be curiously interested to lend a hand. That's not what we're talking about. Please do that.

But let's just be back porch honest here and let's state the obvious. When you don't have any reason to inquire other than knowledge, don't inquire. I tend to think if action isn't your aim, then you have no reason to ask.

That's a good filter we can all use, isn't it? Like what's my end game here? Do I want to act and help or do I just want to know? Do I want to solve a problem or spread information? Now, to our own embarrassment and shame, sometimes churches unfortunately can be places where this kind of dysfunctional and unbiblical behavior happens. I would say many of you have experienced places where everyone knows your business. So can I ask you something as one of your pastors? Will you commit with me to obey this imperative phrase? One of the ways our leadership tries to help you obey this is by being very transparent with you, available to you, accessible.

It's what's behind what's going on now with our fireside chats. We do these twice a year. They're a little late this year.

We use them after Easter and so it's caused us to kind of be a little bit of a rush. Our apologies. We're squeezing them in here before the end of May best we can.

I think we'll get them all in. But the goal of a fireside chat is to come to your small group. So if you're not in a small group, you're going to miss out on the inside information, all right? It's to come to your group, have ears to hear you.

We want you to have ears to hear your leadership. We want to share vision aspects. We want to hear what the Holy Spirit may have been saying to you and to your group.

And we often ask this question, has the Holy Spirit been saying anything to you all that you want to share with us? So we're not just looking for like gripes or like your latest frustration. We all have those. We're looking for those God things that are that are repeated upon us and pressed upon us continuously that we want to know about.

We want to hear that from you. So these are ways we make ourselves available. I just want to encourage you just to ask us a question.

I think that's one of the ways that we want to continue to be transparent. And there's something that I want you to know about the spiritual family, but you do not have to sneak around with coded language or loaded questions to try to figure out what's going on really. Actually, you can just ask your leadership.

And to the best of our ability, we'll tell you. In fact, this is really why I love questions live in the service. We don't do them every week.

We do them sometimes. But I think it's a fantastic way to say to our church, even theologically about the text. What are your questions? Talk to us.

If we don't know, we'll tell you if we can. If we do know, we'll help you. I think an atmosphere of transparency and openness is critical in leadership.

Now, I will say this to you. There may be some things that are private that we can't talk about fully in every single gathering. But can we be honest about something? There is a difference between privacy and secrecy.

Privacy usually indicates proper boundaries. Secrecy usually indicates improper behavior. Add to that the fact that not every leader knows everything about every detail.

So you have ignorance in there too, right? But I'll take ignorance and privacy every day over secrecy. Amen, church. My point is, when other things are your business, let's approach it in the right way to act and help.

And let's ask, let's inquire with the right attitude. And so my exhortation to you, First Family, as you think about this phrase to mind your own business, business is to contain your urge to think the worst and create a narrative that isn't true. Instead, believe the best.

And when you aren't sure, ask your leaders humbly and plainly and then hear your leaders humbly and plainly. I'm convinced churches would make much progress in their witness and work if the followers in that church would simply learn the art of biblically minding their own business. It's right out of scripture.

Amen. Well, let's look at the final phrase, can we, while you're all feeling nervous and tense with two really come at you phrases, right? Lead a quiet life, mind your own business. Here's this last one, which is a little softer for us.

He says to work with your own hands. Here, I want you to think about the word cultivation. I was thinking about the word construction, constructive.

I'm more content with cultivation. So let's think about our four key words, can we? Crescendo, contentment, containment, and now cultivation. Because what he's saying here, he's urging a life that's the opposite of idleness and dependency, complacency, saying, don't be that way.

He's not saying that manual labor is better than other types of labor. That's not his point. His point is that industrious people who are focused and not lazy, they're proactive, they're active, they're productive.

These are the ones who love others more and more. Now this again, very simple reasoning. Why is it the case? Because industrious people who work with their own hands, they're able to meet needs.

They have resources. They have ability, opportunity, connections to meet needs. And that's how we love each other more and more.

It's a beautiful phrase, really just being an active, productive person for the right reasons, not lazy. So here are these four phrases, really not hard to understand, but they are hard to adopt and they're hard to apply sometimes, aren't they? These four phrases, I'll review them with you. To love each other more and more, the key word there is what? Crescendo.

To lead a quiet life, think what? Contentment. To mind your own business, think containment. And to work with your own hands, think cultivation.

But why? Why should we obey these four imperatives that each begin with an infinitive? Why? Well, that's what verse 12 is all about. Can we just look at this as we begin to descend here and land the plane for a moment? We'll obey these four phrases, first of all, so that we have proper behavior. You see that in verse 12, don't you? And notice it's a specific audience for our behavior.

It's an audience in front of those who are not yet believers. That's the point of the word outsiders. They're not part of the church, but when we love each other rightly in these four ways, it sends a message to those who aren't part of our gathering.

In the most blatant terms, it sends a message to those who aren't being loved that they could be loved this way. Look how we're loving each other. It's interesting, isn't it? They're not receiving this love, and yet they look at it, and they're awed by it.

They're enamored with it. It's very reflective of what Jesus said in John 13, that all men will know you are my disciples when you have love for one another. Now, my sense of this phrase even more specifically is this, that when non-Christians see Christians loving each other more and more, having less and less strife, less and less offenses with one another, less and less division, it's attractive and compelling because a picture with less baggage is a more beautiful picture than one with strewn luggage and all kinds of distractions.

Wouldn't you agree? So a word to all my fellow believers in this room, all of our locations, a word to all of you. Deal with your stuff for the sake of the souls who have yet to trust Christ. Get your relationships in order.

Get a clear conscience. Make them as right as you can be. And if you'll hear my podcast from a few weeks ago, that may not always mean agreement.

You may have honest disagreement, but you can have a clear conscience even in disagreement. So, fellow believers, let's deal with our stuff for the sake of those who've yet to trust Christ. And a promise on behalf of this church and her members to those listening who have yet to trust Christ.

That's right here in this room, other places, perhaps later through our podcast. If you're seeking, you're curious, you're kind of a wanderer, like, I'm wondering about this thing called Christianity. Maybe you've been attending for a few weeks.

Maybe today's your first week. Here's a promise I want to make to you. We commit to packing our relational luggage well.

You see, we've all got some suitcases from the past, don't we? That's not the question, whether you want to admit it or not. We've all got at least one or two suitcases. The issue is, can we pack it well and carry it responsibly so that we're not damaging the church's testimony and so that unbelievers, outsiders, observe a truly loving and sacrificial community, a community of Christians who've been deeply transformed and changed by the indescribable love of God as seen in the person and work of Jesus Christ? Is that what they are seeing? I want to say to those of you who are checking out Christianity, we promise we will let that truth affect us and how we relate to one another.

We hope to let it affect us so much that you will see us loving each other more and more, just as we're commanded to, because what matters more to us, what matters more than our way, is that you see Jesus as the only way and believe in his name as the only name by which you can receive forgiveness of sins, eternal life, that you can be reconciled to God through Jesus. That really matters to us. And so, in all frankness, you matter to us, seeking one, curious one, inquiring one.

We're convinced the better we love each other, the more convinced you'll be by God we say we believe. That's right, First Family, Ankeny, Carlisle, Lamoni, and our brothers and sisters just north of us now for about a year, I'm signing, along with our elders, on the dotted line of relational integrity and moral behavior for all of us, in light of and for the sake of our witness and the mission of God. Let's get our relational baggage in order.

Let's live like loving Christians. Quickly, the second phrase that tells us why we should do this is so that there is a proper independence. So there's a proper behavior and then a proper independence.

These really go together because when we behave rightly and loving each other rightly, then we're not wrongly dependent on the world. You see, what Paul here is referring to is the situation where we refuse to take care of each other and then we've got to suddenly depend on the world to take care of us. That's not the goal.

The church should take care of one another. This is Acts 2 now in an epistle form, sharing things, taking care of needs, selling things to make sure we can use the profits to help those in need. You can just go to Acts 2, read what they did there.

Paul's saying, hey, let's keep doing that. Church, hear this, a church that's a drain on its city will not have an impact in its city. And so we need to have and be productive, proactive people who have jobs, who work hard, who produce and create and use resources to take care of our affairs and the affairs of others in the right way and for the right reason, so that we're not a drain on the world.

The world will see that and it will be an incredible, remarkable testimony. It's a highlight to the beauty of the gospel when we are a blessing to our community, not a burden. Now, if you find this a little odd, let me read for you what Paul says to this very church in his next letter.

It's even more blatant than this. It's 2 Thessalonians 3, just a couple of verses. This is stark.

He says this, we hear that some among you are idle. Remember, he just spoke against this, right? So he's reminding them down this second letter, you shouldn't be idle. He says, they're not busy.

They're not productive. They're busy bodies. They're the ones who are putting their nose where it doesn't belong, right? And so he says, we command and exhort such people by the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and provide for themselves.

But as for you, brothers and sisters do not grow weary in doing good. That's a phrase that refers to helping each other, but it follows making sure that you are working and being productive, because if you're not working, being productive, being diligent, you have no resources and goods to help people. So Paul here is saying, it's a great witness to the world when you take care of yourselves and others, and it helps you be rightly interdependent.

So don't stop helping each other. Let's keep helping one another, but for the right reasons and in the right way, not with wrong reasons or motives. And so this is the what and the how and the why laid out to us in stark, plain terms, but quite applicational.

And can we just admit quite where the rubber meets the road? Wouldn't you say this is shoe leather text this morning. And again, it's pointing to sanctification, but this time showing us how to love each other rightly. So I want you to read with me our take home action.

We have a truth, a Thessalonian truth that kind of governs all 12 verses. We had a action point last week, which was basically refuse to love the wrong way. We have an action point now for this week, which will extrapolate what it means to love the right way, kind of summarize all these phrases.

It's this right here. Will you read it with me? All of our locations together. I will pursue increased sanctification by seeking to love rightly, focusing my attention first on my realm of responsibility so that I can properly give it to other matters as well.

This is how we love one another rightly. This is the last four verses of this first set of 12. This is how we love each other more and more.

And the overall aim is a sense of proper attentiveness to your affairs, not others. Now, while you're mulling this over, while this thought is circling your brain, and I want to be the captain of the obvious for a moment, because I don't think I'm the only guy in the room thinking this, but I'm going to throw something out to you. I'll see if you agree.

I think this sounds and seems counterintuitive. Like, do you think you would have written these four phrases if someone were to say to you, hey, Brad, how do I love other people more and more? Would you have said in essence, take care of your own life? I wouldn't have. I would have started with the biggest need I can find and tell you to do something out there.

And I wouldn't even thought about mentioning something about my life or your life. So it sounds very counterintuitive. Can I say to you almost upside down, like loving others by giving the right kind of attention to my own affairs? Is that what he's saying? Here's the answer.

Yes. And here's why. And every ear listening, every eye watching, because preoccupation leads to temptation, which can lead to transgression.

Some of you are always wanting what's across the fence, what's in the next house, his wife. Her husband. Those kids.

That job. That income. You can't keep your eyes on your own affairs to save your life.

And that's exactly what's happening. You're losing your life. You see why it's such sound, principled, biblical wisdom to pay attention to your affairs first, not at the exclusion of others, but to make sure that you are productive and proactive, responsible within your realm so that you have the credibility and capacity then to go outside of your realm when the need arises.

And this is principled biblical wisdom that especially helps us sexually, which I do think the entire tone of the 12 verses has a sexual nature to it. You can't escape it. The first eight verses especially do.

And so he's saying, here's how to rightly love each other and to avoid these sexual sins. Don't become preoccupied with things outside of your realm of responsibility. That's where temptation lurks and temptation can lead to transgression.

This is where addictions begin. Affairs start. One night stands happen.

Incidents and accidents take place when we're preoccupied and become tempted and then sin. We need to get our eyes off of watching other people in the wrong way. We need to remove ourselves from being preoccupied to the extent that we actually hurt others more instead of love others more.

Now if you're still unsure if we love others best by paying attention to our own realm first, then I want you to hear these words from the Apostle Paul as we've lowered the wheels and we're hitting the runway. This is a striking verse. It's a pastor to pastor verse, but it will shore up all that he said in these four verses out of 1st Thessalonians 4. Hear this echo of 1st Timothy 4. Pay close attention to your life and your teaching.

Persevere in these things for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers. Do you read that? Like I read it? Paul is telling a pastor you better watch your life and your teaching very closely because what flows out of it won't be of any help if you're not guarding that. He's saying mind your own affairs first, not at the exclusion of other affairs.

Paul's aim in these verses is not proud self-sufficiency at the cost of helping others. It's humble personal responsibility so that we can correctly help others. This is what it means to love others and to love others more and more.

So will you say it again with me, church? Will you say our take-home action one more time and allow God's word to do its work even when perhaps it seems at first glance almost upside down? Let's say this together. I will pursue increased sanctification by seeking to love rightly, focusing my attention first on my realm of responsibility so that I can properly give it to others as well. Nobody did this better than Jesus.

He was committed to crescendoing his love for us. It pinnacled at the cross the ultimate place of sacrifice. He was content with this as God's will for him.

And knowing it was God's will for him, he contained his focus so that nothing distracted him from this mission from the Father. And in that mission, he cultivated perfectly every bit of the work necessary to make us righteous before God. He took care of everything his bride needs.

So this isn't upside down, odd counsel. This is time-tested biblical wisdom that we should heed. It's the word doing the work.

This type of loving one another more and more is commanded by the Father, modeled by the Son, and empowered by the Spirit. It's a very Trinitarian way to live. As we close today, will you do this with me? All of our locations.

Will you metaphorically draw a circle right around yourself? Will you create this sanctuary right there in your seat? And will you take a posture of prayer, bowing your head, closing your eyes, and will you join me in asking these questions to yourself under the authority of Jesus Christ, our King? Within that circle, that sanctuary, ask yourself things like this. Am I committed to a crescendoing love? Am I content with where God has me and what he has given me? Am I contained to what's in my realm of responsibility? Am I cultivating a life of productivity for the good of others? Four questions that are from the four phrases God gave us to know how to love each other more and more.