"For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus" (1 Thess. 4:2).
What a great text for my morning Bible study!
As you know, in this fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians, Paul's moving from the past to the present, from explanation to exhortation. What follows is plain, practical, ethical teaching based on the new life in Christ.
Notice Paul's tone of authority as he addresses the church. In verse 2 he reminds them of the "instructions" (Greek parangelias) he'd already given them when he was in Thessalonica. This is a forceful word. In ancient times it was frequently used for either a military command or a civilian law. Thus we should understand Paul's "instructions" as authoritative commands. If our goal as believers is to please God, we cannot evade these instructions.
I'm mentioning this because of the recent near miss at Chicago's Midway Airport. I'm sure you've seen the video.
Instead of holding short of runway 31C as instructed, the FlexJet proceeded to cross it just as a Southwest Airlines 737 was about to touch down. The pilot and copilot of the SWA jet deserve medals for saving all souls on board. Thank God they were fully engaged and cool as ice. What blows my mind is that the FlexJet pilot seemed distracted from the get-go. Didn't he see the SWA plane about to land? Ask any pilot: Before crossing a runway you always look left and then right, calling out "Clear left, clear right." Works every time. Honestly, the FlexJet pilot sounded a lot like a teenage who's texting while "listening" to his dad's instructions. That nearly led to disaster. Tower "instructions" are not suggestions. They are authoritative commands. If you're told to hold short, you hold short. If you're not sure what to do or where you are, you ask the tower.
From his general instructions on how to please God (1 Thess. 4:1-2), Paul moves on to specifying ways we should do this. Christian morality is not primarily rules we blindly obey but instructions to keep all of us safe and free from disaster. Complacency is a particularly horrid condition be it in the Christian life or on an airport taxiway.