May the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely

1 Thessalonians 5:4-28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; ⁵ for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; ⁶ so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. ⁷ For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. ⁸ But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. ⁹ For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

¹² But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, ¹³ and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. ¹⁴ We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. ¹⁶ Rejoice always; ¹⁷ pray without ceasing; ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit; ²⁰ do not despise prophetic utterances. ²¹ But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; ²² abstain from every form of evil.

²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

²⁵ Brethren, pray for us.

²⁶ Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. ²⁷ I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren.

²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

In today’s text Paul says:  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.   Encouraging and building one another up does not mean that we turn our eyes to or wink at sin. Paul says: You are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness.  In Ephesians 4:15 Pauls says:  Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.  Building one another up goes hand in hand with growing up in all aspects of Christ. If we truly love others, we will not allow them to continue in behavior that is harmful. What parent, if they love their children, allows them to continue in things that are dangerous or unhealthy?  Embracing or turning our back to destructive behavior does not build up, rather it tears others down. Being sober means we are capable of making good decisions and responding well to dangerous situations. In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says:  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   While at times it seems as though it is more encouraging to allow people to do whatever they want, if we speak the truth in love, we will not relax the commandments of God either for ourselves or for others.

Paul continues saying:  We request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. Rejoice always;  pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit;  do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.   There are many people who rather than appreciating those who diligently labor in ministry, are crititcal of and complain about or criticize those in ministry. In particular if people do not like or agree with instruction; if the preaching does not satisfy the desires of the people, then both the message and the messenger are rejected.  Our culture allows for the church to encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone, but not to admonish the unruly. Paul says:  See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. If we seek after what is good for one another, not only will we not repay evil with evil, we will not condone or support evil. Paul says we should pray without ceasing. We should rejoice always. Our prayers and our praise should not be limited to designated times. Prayer and praise should be integral in our being and character. It should be more than what we do, it should be who we are. We should be people of prayer and praise; those who rejoice in God.

Paul says:  Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. We should examinewhat is said in the name of the Lord to see if it agrees with what He has already said. Prophetic words from God will never contradict the unchanging written word of God. In Isaiah 5:20 God says: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. We should hold fast to that which is good and abstain from every form of evil.

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.  Amen.