Jump Start # 982

1 Thessalonians 4:1 “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.”

Our verse today is a great reminder and motto for Christians to live by. This is good for us. We can forget and even slow down in our efforts and spirit with the Lord. The passion and drive that fuels our faith can be diminished by the many activities of life. We get busy with the here and now and put the eternal on the back burner. Often, most often, it’s not intentional, it just happens. We get consumed with work projects, house stuff, finishing school, taking care of parents, holiday plans that our spiritual life seems to get shoved to the back. All of this takes a toll on us. Unless the spiritual is in the front seat of our life, our souls and character and even relationships take a beating. We tend to be less patient and more cranky than we ought to. We get more obsessed with the worldly and our priorities tend to get out of order.

This verse is a great help. There are three wonderful thoughts here.

First, we have been instructed on how to walk. This walk is defined by God. It is not a step, but a walk. It is a journey. This is a life’s walk. Paul reminds the brethren that they had been instructed in this walk. This is not something that they just figured out or stumbled upon. It is not something that is different for each person. It is not something that just came to them on their own. They had been taught. They had been instructed. The walk with God is a learned walked. It is a divine walk because it is defined by the divine word of God. This tells us that we need to instruct others how to walk. Just coming to church services doesn’t mean that they will get it. They must be instructed. It is a learned process.

Second, we are to please God. Pleasing God is the drive in all that we do. Please God. To please, is to do what God wants. To please is to follow His will. To please is to make God happy. God can be happy with us. In the parable of the talents, the master responded, “Well done, good and faithful…” He was pleased and happy with what the servant had done. The Thessalonians were instructed how to walk and please God. We need this. Folks don’t get that today. They want to please self. If they are not happy, they complain. They want to be happy. In the words of Phil, on Duck Dynasty, “Happy, happy, happy.” That’s what drives marriages. When one is no longer happy, they want out. Doesn’t matter what God says or how the spouse feels. If they are not happy with their work, they quit. If they are not happy with the church, off they go looking for another one. Happy Meals, happy trails, happy times—is it any one that the media has termed the generation, “The ME generation.” We see this in the magazines. There was Life. Then there was People. Then there was US. Now there is a magazine called SELF. Please God. What is it that God wants. Faithfulness to God may take you through some dark valleys, difficult times and require a huge amount of faith and trust. God is good. God is good to us. However, our happiness can lead us away from Him. Pleasing God must come first. This is what worship ought to be about. This is what our marriages ought to be about. This is what our lives ought to be about.

Third, excel still more. Don’t settle. Don’t just get by. Don’t do what is average. Don’t go along with everyone else. Excel. Excel still more. Excel in walking with God. Excel in pleasing God. Go the second mile. Do more than is expected and required. What does this thinking do with our attendance? The person who is excelling still more won’t be asking, “Do we have to go so much?” Not at all. The person who is excelling still more is looking for more ways to serve, more ways to follow, more ways to please. I wonder if our greatest threat is not error but compliancy. Just going with the flow. Just doing what we have always done before. Where is the excelling? Where is the push?

This is what the apostle wanted from the Thessalonians. Don’t you think he wants the same from us? The more the spiritual is in us, the less Satan impacts us. The more the spiritual is in us, the more positive influence we will have upon others. Our first thought will be the spiritual way. Our first answer will be the Biblical answer. Our first choice will be what God wants. Excel. Going beyond. If a person must ask, “Why should I?” they have not mastered pleasing God. The person bent on pleasing God is the person who has no problem with excelling more. Please comes first. Excel follows.

Three thoughts: walk in the way you have been instructed; please God; excel still more. Think you can do that? God does.

Roger