Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Mar 24 2020 - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18 – Discerning God’s will

It is common to hear Christians speak about seeking God's will for their lives. This is understandable when we face decisions such as jobs and careers, where to live, who we might marry and so on. We want to discern how we may best live to please God. But this very desire to please God reminds us that many aspects of God's will are quite plain; they do not need searching out, they only need working out.

Paul speaks of one such aspect of God's will in his first letter to the Christians at Thessalonica. An older translation renders it, "This is God's will for you, even your sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Here is one area where there can be no doubt about God's will for our lives; God wants us to be holy. Paul goes on to speak particularly about the need for a holy life in the area of our sexuality. This was a particular problem in the Gentile world of the first century and it is equally a problem in the contemporary world. Here is an area where Christian lives can stand out as distinctly different from prevailing culture: chastity before marriage; faithfulness in marriage.

I recently came across a report suggesting that a significant proportion of Christians are addicted to pornography. Indeed a survey suggests that 20% of Christian ministers are involved in regular viewing of pornography on the internet. Satan whispers that such private preoccupations do no harm. He is a liar; they harm our character, harm our effectiveness, harm our witness. God wants us to be holy; this is one key area where our devotion to him should be reflected in a pattern of life which is distinctively different from the preoccupations of contemporary society.

It is said of Augustine that when he began to read Scripture and come under the conviction of the Spirit that he prayed, "Lord, make me holy – but not yet!" I'm sure that we would not dream of praying like that, but maybe we think like that: "Lord, I want to be holy, but not right now!" Let's not run away from the call of God. Let our prayer be that God would help us to lead a holy life now and in every moment of every day that he gives us. A holy life is a powerful testimony to the sanctifying power of God.

"It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality" (4:3).

But a holy life is displayed not simply in abstaining from things. A holy life is a Christ-like life and this is to be seen in the way we relate to other people. This is a lesson that the Christians at Thessalonica had learned well. Paul writes, “Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.  And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more” (4:9-10). The holy life that is God’s will for us is a life characterised by love for others. This is the life the Spirit of Christ is teaching us to live. We need to apply ourselves to our lessons and live a life of holy love.

Lord Jesus, you have drawn us to yourself by the loveliness of your holy character and your love for us. Help us to grow more like you – to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. May your love shape our lives so that, taught well by your Spirit, we may love one another and draw others to you by showing them your love. Keep us from those idols that would undermine and destroy our witness.

Mar 24 2019 - Psalm 32 – Transgressions covered

We were made in the image of God, made to reflect God's character and to live in close fellowship with him. But something within us is broken and that beautiful image has become distorted and ugly. We have sought to go our own way in life, to impose our own will on others and to insist that the world ought to be reshaped to feed our desires. But instead of this bringing joy and satisfaction, it brings only pain, a deep sickness of the soul. This is the wages of sin – it is a living death.

The psalmist speaks of this sickness of soul in verses 3 and 4 of Psalm 32. It is a heaviness of spirit that can lead to physical pain and sickness. Is there any remedy for this fatal disease?

In 2014 I was very ill. I did not know what the problem was but I did know that I had no energy. I could no longer go running and even climbing stairs proved difficult. When I went to the gym I could only exercise for a minute or two before I had to stop and my pulse, which previously had risen dramatically during exercise, now refused to rise at all. One afternoon I was told by my GP that I needed to go into hospital immediately. Initially they still did not know the cause of my problems but it was soon discovered that I had a faulty heart valve that was allowing the blood flow back the wrong way. This had also resulted in damage to the electrical pathways in the heart damaging my body's ability to adjust its pulse rate. Once an accurate diagnosis had been made a remedy could be prescribed; I was first fitted with a replacement heart valve and then with a pacemaker. A fatal condition was remedied through accurate diagnosis and appropriate action.

It's the same with the soul-sickness of sin; while we refuse to recognise that there is anything wrong with us, we close ourselves off from the possibility of remedy and allow the fatal sickness to continue its course. Much better to come to our senses and acknowledge that we are rebels against God, that we are broken and unable to mend ourselves:

Then I acknowledged my sin to you
    and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, ‘I will confess
    my transgressions to the LORD.’
And you forgave
    the guilt of my sin. (v.6)

Diagnosis and acknowledgement of the disease is the first step towards a cure. We need to come to God in confession and repentance. But God alone can mend and restore our broken lives. He alone can mend the broken relationship with him; he alone can remake the broken image.

How does God, the great physician, deal with our sin? He cannot overlook it or just sweep it aside any more than we can. The Psalmist speaks of the blessings of those "whose transgressions are covered" (v.1). God does not cover our sins in the sense of brushing them under the carpet; he has dealt with them finally and effectively through the saving work of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came into this world to identify himself with us and take our sin and guilt upon himself. He paid the price for our sin through his atoning death upon the cross and broke the power of sin and death through his resurrection from the dead. Trusting in him our sins are forgiven and our guilt is turned to joy. By the power of his Spirit he is repairing the broken image – remaking us in his own image, the image and glory of God.  He is our "hiding place" who surrounds us "with songs of deliverance" (v.7)

Lord God, we thank you that you have made us painfully aware of our broken and sinful condition; we no longer try to hide our sins but readily confess them before you. Thank you for the Lord Jesus who bore our sin and condemnation. We thank you for the blessing of knowing that we are forgiven – that our sins are no longer counted against us. We praise you with our songs of deliverance.

Peter Misselbrook