"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."
1 Thessalonians 4:1
“Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus,”
“We beseech…and exhort you.” “Beseech” means “to question…to ask…to request, entreat, beg, beseech”[1] (Thayer). “Exhort” is the New Testament word that means “to call to one’s side, call for, summon…to address, speak to, (call to, call upon), which may be done in the way of exhortation, entreaty, comfort, instruction, etc….”[2] (Thayer).
Paul is asking, begging the Thessalonians to listen up, pay attention to what he is saying, as though this were a personal request from himself to them.[3] They need to learn to do what the Word says here. Note that Paul is not so much pointing out the words he is writing them as much as he is emphasizing their obedience to the Lord Jesus.
“That as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God,”
Paul had faithfully taught the Thessalonians what Jesus expected of them. Now that they were redeemed, their “walk,” “manner of life,” how they were living in their relationship to Jesus Christ day by day is vital. It is a matter of their personal testimony and their living to the glory of God. Their own walk was to be for the purpose of “pleasing God.” Not to do so was selfish in the light of everything God has done for them.
“Just two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self” (Ken Collier).
Believers, who are you living to please? We are each just one wrong choice away from pleasing God to living in selfishness. Your daily decisions matter!
Paul has already spoken to the Thessalonians about how they ought to be walking.
“That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12).
The idea of walking with God is an obvious burden in the Apostle’s heart for believers to obey. This makes sense for we do not belong to ourselves but to the Lord.
They did “receive” his instruction, and it was of benefit to all who heard and obeyed His teaching.
“How ye ought to walk,” only one way to walk right, and that is “to please God.” Note the comma after “God” in the text. It points to the result of “walking” with Him.
“So ye would abound more and more.”
Would you like to grow and be able to do more in your Christian life for God? Then be faithful in your godly walk daily, for it results in “abounding more and more.”
“That you labor to excel more and more, and daily surpass yourselves.” [4]
[1] J.H. Thayer, Thayer’s Greek Definitions, the electronic version in eSword.
[2] Thayer, ibid.
[3] See Jamison, Fausset, and Brown, in eSword.
[4] The Geneva Bible, Translation Notes, in the electronic version in eSword.