1.21.2009

Quotes about 1 Thess.

In addition to love and holiness, he wants them to grow in hope (5:23-24). Paul knows that in order for the Thessalonians to live differently than the world as well as differently than their own pasts, they must have a different hope-a different goal in life-one that will inspire them to endure in the faith…Paul prayed because he hoped. Without that hope, he would not have prayed. If we want to pray like Paul prays, we must hope like Paul hoped.

Hope in the coming of our Lord Jesus leads to holiness in the present.

The beginning point of the Christian life, and of Christian ministry, is not living to please others but living to please God…If we live only to please others, we will not live faithfully. If you are a Christian, God will call you to do some things that will be unpopular with those around you. Yet those around you will never be your final court of appeal. As Christians, we must live fundamentally to please God.

Part of a Christian’s basic mission is to live a life that commends the gospel to others. You do this not so that others will think well of you but so that the gospel will be commended.

We are to be awake to God. We do not live in darkness but in the light. We do not live in the night but in the day. We are not asleep but awake, alert,and self-controlled. As Christians, we do not wait for condemnation but for salvation. We wear faith, love, and the hope of salvation, not wrath. We may experience physical death, but not spiritual death. We all will live together with Christ because he died for us.

- Mark Dever, The Message of the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians: The Second Coming

No comments: