(REFLECTIONS ON 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18)

1 Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.

A life of faith is not just about knowledge of God through the Bible. Even just attending weekly worship service, is not the end goal, but it is in the details of how we live our life, and whether we do so with an increasingly intimate relationship with God, or independent of Him.

This isn’t a check-off list, but rather a journey of faith, built on relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. We shouldn’t rest on our laurels, meaning that we shouldn’t be satisfied with what we have already done, but should continue forward into a deeper relationship with God.

That is why Paul twice encourages the Thessalonians to excel still more.

9 Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more.

The Thessalonians were already excelling in their life of faith. However, Paul encouraged them to excel still more, because there is always more progress that can be made, and it is in this progress that we will experience more and more of the fullness of our relationship with God.

For the Christian, this progress is called sanctification. Those of us that have been justified by grace through the faith of Jesus Christ, should move towards sanctification, being holy, set apart, not like the world, but different than the world.

This journey of sanctification was a call for Israel, to be different than the other nations, and is also our call as Christians and the church, just as Paul wrote,

4 that each of yo know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;

The goal is sanctification, because we have already been justified, and sanctification is to be different and set apart from unbelievers so that we are living lives for God, rather than for ourselves. Yes, we are on this journey together, but let us not settle for where we are now as if the journey has concluded, but excel still more, until the day Jesus returns, or calls us back to Him.

Brothers and sisters, let us not treat our faith as something we have achieved, or live as if we have already arrived. But wherever we are today, whether weak or strong, steady or struggling, let us take one step further. In all things, let us desire and seek to excel still more.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: 1 Thessalonians 4