How to Live
After encouraging the church at the end of the last chapter, Paul gives more specific examples of what the Christian life should look like in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12. I'm sure that he was stressing particular worries for the culture that they lived in, but it is relevant to all cultures, and especially to us today. He indicates that he is just reiterating what he had already covered when first interacting with them, but by this time the influence of the Thessalonica church had spread out into Macedonia, so there were many more Christians that might need to hear an authority on what was considered good and bad in a Christian life.
He first covered sexual sins. He told them they were to avoid sexual misconduct outside of marriage. That would include things like premarital sex, adultery, incest, and prostitution. Paul's desire was that every person should keep their body sanctified for the Holy Spirit and pure. God's attitudes haven't changed over time. The Old Testament issues were still New Testament issues, and are still issues today.
Next he admonishes the church to avoid lust. While we think of lust as a sexual thing today, it's really a desire for any forbidden thing. It has its roots all the way back to the garden of Eden when Satan tempted Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they succumbed to their desire for what was forbidden by God. A desire for something that is off limits is something that still pulls at everyone. Christians spend much too much time comparing themselves with their neighbor or some well known well off individual and not comparing themselves with Christ. Our internal desires are supposed to be better controlled than those of the unsaved people around us. Would that it were so.
Then he touches on civil matters. We aren't to defraud people, because God looks out for those who are taken advantage of. Fraud can come in many forms today. We think of it mostly in financial terms today, but it can encompass all forms of deception as well. Examples would be lying about what you are like when entering a relationship, trying to get people to believe you are better or perhaps worse than you are to give them a reason to like you. That doesn't mean everything will work out perfectly even if you are honest, but you have a much better chance of succeeding.
We need to try to not despise people, because God has given each person a soul. That is tough when people do despicable things, either to us or to others. But again, we need to try to remember and put into practice the Sermon on the Mount in every relationship. If you don't like your boss or some political leader, pray for them.
After all these things, Paul compliments the Thessalonica church on the good characteristics he had heard from them. They apparently had a true love, not just for each other but for the world around them. They had worked hard to spread the Christian message throughout their part of the world. Wouldn't it be great if all the Christians had that same zeal that new Christians have to try to get the people they know and interact with saved as well. He challenged them to increase their love further afield.
He gave some good advice to be quiet and worry about their own business, working diligently with their own hands so that they would not bring any reproach on the name of Christ. Nobody wants to be thought of as an old busybody. But the way you make sure that that doesn't happen is by not being young busybodies!
Finally, in the section Paul asks all the Christians to have honest dealings with everyone. Treat everyone you interact with as you would treat your Christian brother or sister. There shouldn't be an us vs. them take on your dealings. We're all together on this planet, and all of of have the same end to face. Each has a choice to reject or accept Christ's salvation. We can't make the choice for them, as much as we'd like to do so. But by treating every person decently, you raise up the name of Christ, and give them a reason to maybe look into your religion instead of calling you out as a hypocrite.
The Rapture
The last few verses of this chapter (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) deal with a subject that was evidently a particular concern to that church. It is a passage of scripture that is frequently used at Christian funeral services, because it speaks of the future joining of resurrected body and soul together when Christ returns.
It seems that since the Christ hadn't returned as quickly as some had hoped, that some in the church were worried about what would happen to those who had accepted Christ but who had died.
Eternal Destinations gives more information about that topic, and I won't spend a lot of time recounting the details again here. The important part to know is that Christ is going to return at some point in time. All of the prophecies about His return have been completed as of the time when Israel was made a nation again after world war II. He could come at any time.
When he does, Paul declares the graves will be opened at the shout of Christ along with the voice of an archangel and with a trump of God blowing! When that happens, the dead bodies in Christ will rise first, and then all Christians who are alive at that point will go to meet Christ in the air, and we will be united with Him forever.
There is no reason to be sad when a Christian dies. Heaven is far better than even the grandest palace that has ever existed on this planet. Nobody knows when Christ will return except God Himself. Speculation is pointless. We'd like to think that since Israel is now a nation, that the time is going to be soon. Certainly, the world is getting worse in some respects. Of course, it has always been pretty awful from time to time. But we'd like to think that it will be soon.
But if it isn't, we have this hope. When we die, as Christians, our soul will go immediately to heaven where we can meet Christ, God, experience a fullness of the Holy Spirit like we haven't imagined, and get to see all of our Christian friends and loved ones who have passed away already, all the way back to the first saved person, and I won't debate who that might have been.
At some point, Christ will return, and the empty graves will be one of the primary evidences that the Bible is true. After all, nobody is going to be going around emptying graves manually just to try to prove Christianity is true. But when Christ does it, it will be hard for anyone to refute. Blessed be the name of the Lord!