FIRST THESSALONIANS 3:12

The Bible says in First Thessalonians 3:12, “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.” This verse makes it very clear what is the great Christian virtue that needs to be possessed by every Christian: love. Everything else that we do is in vain, if we do not have love. God is love. Love is the greatest commandment, the most important spiritual gift, and the first of the fruits of the Spirit. This verse in First Thessalonians speaks to the second of the two greatest commandments given by Jesus. The greatest commandment Jesus said is to love God with all the heart, all the mind, all the soul, and all the strength. The second greatest commandment is like unto it: to love one’s neighbor as one’s self.

Concerning this commandment to love one’s neighbor, First Thessalonians 3:12 broke it into two parts. The first part says to have “love one for another.” This is talking about Christians loving other Christians. Family members should love each other, and Christians are in the same family: the family of God. The world needs love, and the world needs to see true love. Jesus said that they will only see it when Christians love each other. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, when ye have love one to another.” Just think of the hearts that would be touched if the people of the world saw real love between Christians. They would be attracted to it. They would want to know more about it. They would want to know where it came from. And then they would want to be a part of it.

Of course, the Christian love should not be limited to each other. It should also be shown to everyone in the community. Your love should be without dissimulation. It is not God’s love, if you only love some. God loves everyone. Remember that Jesus taught that you should even “Love your enemies.” “Bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” There are religions in the world that tell people to kill their enemies. Jesus said to love them. Which is better? I think that the teachings of Jesus are better. His teachings are the greatest and the most noble and have the highest standard of all teachings. That should not surprise us since He came from God. That should not surprise us since He was not of this earth. Some Christians would be a much better testimony in this world if they concentrated on this one commandment to love “all men.”

Do not forget that First Thessalonians 3:12 says, “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love.” True love is not a normal product of human nature, but it is a normal product of the divine nature. The first of the fruits of the Spirit is love. Galatians 5:22 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love…” If I am going to have more love, then it will only happen if God puts it in me. Therefore, I must be looking to Him for it. The believers in Thessalonica needed to “increase and abound” in love. This does not mean that they did not have any love. But it does mean that they needed more. We all need more of the love of God in our hearts, so that we can show it to others.

One of the reasons that we need to increase and abound in love is given in the next verse. It says in First Thessalonians 3:13, “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” It is important to realize that this verse is connected closely to the verse that came before. Verse twelve speaks of the need to increase and abound in love, and verse thirteen tells us the result that will come from doing so. The result is holiness. How does a Christian become a holy Christian? What is the one great requirement of these two verses for a Christian to be “unblameable in holiness?” Love is the answer. If you have the love that you ought to have for other Christians and for all others, then and only then are you “unblameable in holiness before God.”

Holiness is connected to the amount of God’s love that you have and that you show towards others. That is why verse thirteen says that “he may stablish your hearts.” Notice that in First Thessalonians 3:13 this holiness is connected to the future coming of Christ. It speaks of “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” One of the reasons that Christians should desire to be holy is because at any moment Jesus Christ might appear. We want to be ready for His appearing. We do not want to be caught off guard. There will be a special blessing for those who are ready at the appearing of Christ.

The Bible mentions in First Thessalonians 3:13 that Jesus will come “with all his saints.” What is implied here is that when a believer in Christ dies, they continue to live with Christ. They do not cease to exist. They are still alive in a much better place with the Lord. This fact will be expounded upon in more detail starting in First Thessalonians 4:13. But before we carry on with that subject, the first twelve verses of First Thessalonians chapter four deal with how we should be living for Christ in this earth until He returns with all his saints.

It says in First Thessalonians 4:1, “Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.” This first verse of chapter four is tied back to the last thing that was said in chapter three by the phrase “furthermore then.” Jesus will return with all of His saints. Because of that fact, there is a certain way that we ought to live on this earth. There is a certain motivation that we ought to have. It says that “ye ought to walk and to please God.” If only we would make decisions for the purpose of pleasing God instead of ourselves. That would change a lot of decisions, and that would make many outcomes so much better. At the return of Christ we will be ashamed of everything that we did to please ourselves, and we will be so happy at everything that we did to please God. If you do not do things to please God, then you will do them to please yourself and that will lead to sin. Sinfulness is selfishness. The best way to avoid sin is to be selfless, and the best way to be selfless is to be motivated to please God in what we do and in what we choose. The question should always be: what does God want, and not what do I want.

The Bible says in First Thessalonians 4:2, “For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.” These writings given to us in First Thessalonians are not just recommendations or good ideas. They are commandments. But commandments should only be obeyed if they come from God. Some Christians go into error because they start following the commandments and traditions of men. That is the problem that the Pharisees had. Jesus said in Mark 7:7-8, “Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men…” And Jesus also said in Mark 7:9, “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.”

The things that Paul taught did not come from man or the tradition of man. Just like the other apostles and the prophets, their words came from God. That is why Paul wrote in First Thessalonians 4:2 that these commandments were “by the Lord Jesus.” In other words the commandments came by means of the Lord Jesus. Jesus was the source for these commandments. The first commandment given to describe the manner of life for Christians before Jesus returns is given in First Thessalonians 4:3. It says, “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication.” Of course, fornication refers to sex outside of marriage. God has a plan for the human race concerning the relationships of men and women. In the book of the beginning of things, it says in Genesis 2:24-25, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”

Sex is a good thing because it was created by God for a man and a woman in marriage. Sex is a powerful force. Those who follow the will of God in regards to sex are the ones who will avoid the pitfalls that so many fall into because of this powerful force. A few people have the calling to be celibate. The Apostle Paul had that gift. But most people will not be celibate. Therefore, most people must follow God’s plan for sex; or they risk being overcome by the power of sexual drives. Many people in the world have given themselves over to fornication in its various forms. Pre-marital sex, adultery, homosexuality, pornography, and child molestation all fit into this category.

What a terrible thing if a Christian should commit the sin of fornication. This is a violation of the clearest directions that God has given to the human race. When a Christian commits fornication there also will be great damage done to the testimony of Jesus Christ. Churches have been torn apart, believers have had their faith weakened, unbelievers have found excuses to mock and to doubt because of fornication by a Christian. “Flee fornication” because it will war against your soul, ruin your testimony, dishonor God, and hurt many lives including your own. In a world that sometimes has few standards, Christians will be tempted to sin. Make sure that you have the highest of standards at all times and in all places. Train your mind and your heart to say no to these things that are forbidden. Do this in order to please God and in order to live life the way that it was meant to be lived.

It says in First Thessalonians 4:4, “That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.” We saw at the end of chapter three that the word “sanctification“ was used in regards to what takes place in one’s heart. Now it is used in regards to what happens with your body. It is interesting that the body is called a “vessel.” That is because the real you is inside of your body. You body will eventually die, but you will live somewhere forever. While you live on the earth, make sure that you live “in sanctification and honor.”

The Bible says in First Thessalonians 4:5, “Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God.” We could translate the first phrase of this verse as: “Not in the strong passions that come from strong desires…” Inside human nature are strong desires. These desires have a normal outlet to them, but if they go uncontrolled or unchecked, they lead to devastating and vile passions. “The Gentiles which know not God” are easily led astray by these passions. But those who know God through Christ have other resources beyond just their human nature. We have the Spirit of God within us. We have the Word of God, which is alive and powerful. We have the eternal love of Christ. We have our sins forgiven because of the death of Christ on the cross. We have a future in heaven. God forbid that a person who calls himself a Christian should allow his vessel to be used for unholy purposes. There are some who should fall to their knees and ask for forgiveness from Christ for the ungodly deeds that they have done due to strong desires.

It says in First Thessalonians 4:6, “That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.” The word that is translated “defraud” comes from a word that means to get material gain or advantage at the expense of someone else. It is related to worldly materialism and mean-spirited competitiveness. Of course, we know that the people of the world have this motivation often. Notice that this verse uses the word “brother.” It is talking about the relationships of Christians with each other. One of the biggest problems with churches is that Christians develop the attitudes of the world, and then they bring them into the church. God loves His people. He wants His people to treat each other properly. No wonder that such a strong warning is given here to any believer who would view another Christian as a competitor and who would “go beyond and defraud his brother.” What a shameful thing that would be! Judgment must start at the house of God.

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