TITLE: DOING THE WILL OF GOD

 

TEXT: 1 THESSALONIANS 4: 1-12

 

As children of God our primary aim is to live our lives to please God. For us to do the will of God perfectly, we need to live in absolute obedience.

God does not accept partial obedience; He wants His children to obey Him absolutely, even when it seems too hard to do. The text highlighted ways that believers needs to follow to do the will of God. These are:

 

v    You should be sanctified- sanctification means separation from the world and unto God. You need to separate yourself from things of the world, and focus on things of God/spirit. You should not do things the way people of the world do things, because you are different from them. This change should reflect both inwardly and outwardly. Your dressing, your group of friends, your attitude your utterances should show that you are for God.

 

v    You should avoid sexual immorality- Our body is the temple of God, therefore we should honour God with our body. God cannot dwell in a filthy body, He says whoever destroys His temple (our body) He will destroy. ( 1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

 

v    Present yourself in sanctification and in honour- purge yourself of anything that does not glorify God. Things like anger, malice, backbiting, bitterness, strife, hatred, jealousy and other works of the flesh. (Romans 8:8) says that those that live in flesh cannot please God.

 

v    Don’t be in passionate lust – As children of God; we should not lust after worldly things like people of the world. Our desires should be on the things of God rather than things of the world. ( 1 John 2: 15-17)  (Matt 6:19-21)

 

v    Live in peace with people – Don’t take advantage of people, do not cheat, and do not have dubious character towards people that comes your way.

 

v    Live in love – The bible says whoever does not love, does not know God, for God is love. (1John 4: 7-8) W e need to demonstrate the love of God to others by loving and forgiving them when they offend us. Though there are some “unloving ones” you would do everything to be at peace with them; yet they will not love or like you. You do not need to follow their way, show them love in return. The bible says we should love them that hate us. God demonstrated His love for us, while we were still sinners Christ died for us. We should not wait for those people to love us before we would them love.

 

v    Live a quiet life- The bible says in Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him”. God wants us to glorify Him in all we do; our way of life is not an exception. Living a quiet life does not need mean you should live in penury, it does not mean you become a loner by moving away from friends and family, but do things moderately and in order. Use your wealth or recourse in a way that it will glorify God.  Let your daily life win the respect of outsiders.

 

v    Study the word of God- Commit yourself to the word of God; let studying the word be your lifestyle. Worship Him constantly, give yourself the things of God, and live in obedience of His word.

 

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised” (Hebrew 10:36). We need to make it a point of duty to do the will of God so that we can receive what He promises us.