Living a Quiet Life (1 Thessalonians): What could it look like to “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life”? Whether in the ancient client-patron relationships of first-century Thessalonica or the rush of modern life, the Apostle Paul reveals that there is a way to slow down while still being productive, respectable, and generous. This Christ-like way of life reflects Christian love out into a world of busyness. Recorded on Jun 8, 2025, on 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 by Pastor David Parks.
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This sermon is part of our series on 1 Thessalonians called Faithful to the End. Being a Christian in the Greek, first-century city of Thessalonica was tough. Thessalonica was a big and prosperous city, but it was full of idols. The Apostle Paul and the first Christians there faced fierce religious persecution and tremendous political pressure to conform. But despite their suffering, they remained faithful. Our culture is different today, but following Jesus can still be very costly. Will we be faithful to the end?
Sermon Transcript
For the rest of June, we’ll be working through 1 Thessalonians in the Bible in a sermon series called Faithful to the End. The early church in the Greek city of Thessalonica faced persecution and social/political pressure to deny Christ, but they remained faithful. There are many lessons here for us in how we can remain faithful today. Last week, we started the first of a little two-part section of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians with Living a Holy Life from 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. And we asked, “Why can’t you just look at someone and tell that they’re a follower of Jesus?” Well, one answer is that there are many things that Christians and non-Christians do pretty much exactly the same way. We said, there isn’t a Christian way to wash your car or fill out a spreadsheet. However, there are some areas of life that are going to be very different. Last week, we saw one area that will be different and will look different is in the area of our sexuality. The Christian sexual ethic challenged Roman culture 2,000 years ago, and it challenges our culture today. Remaining faithful means remaining faithful to the way of Jesus. And this includes our sexuality, our holiness, and, as we’ll consider today, our motive for and the way we do our work, finding that we too can lead a quiet/generous life. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to 1Th 4:9. This is a short passage, so we’ll read through the whole thing, and then we’ll go back and unpack it.
1 Thessalonians 4:9–12 (NIV), “9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” This is God’s word. Ok! So, this is a very positive passage. It’s similar to the start of chapter 4, where Paul reminded them of the instruction he had given them when he was with them, praised them for following his instructions, and encouraged them to do so more and more. Paul has used this kind of tone throughout the whole letter. Something like, “You’re doing great! Keep going!” Again, this would be so helpful to encourage their faithfulness when they were getting so much opposition and trouble from other people in their community. We see this positive encouragement again in vv. 9-10.
1 Thessalonians 4:9–10a (NIV), “9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia.” Wow! Most people love somebody. You people love everybody! I can’t think of a way to make a bigger deal out of the way people are treating one another than to say that they have “been taught by God to love each other.” Back in chapter 1, Paul said, “We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Th 1:2-3). I think the work/labor that Paul mentions is their ministry for one another, which, Paul says, was produced by faith and prompted by love. Paul knew the Thessalonians were loving each other well because of the “good news” Timothy brought back about their “faith and love” (1 Th 3:6). He could see it. It was evident. And the Christians throughout the whole region could see it, they could feel it, too. Paul says, “And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia.” Now, Macedonia was the region of which Thessalonica was the capital. And we might ask, how did the Thessalonians love other believers outside their city? Paul doesn’t say explicitly. But we know from the other places in the NT what these works of love might’ve included. They could’ve been seen in the evangelistic work of bringing the gospel out from Thessalonica to other parts of Macedonia. This happened in the city of Ephesus, so that over the course of just a few years, Luke writes in Acts 19 that “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” (Ac 19:10). Love could’ve led to gospel mission. Or, these works of love could’ve been seen in providing financially for the poor and those in need. Perhaps the Thessalonians gave some of their resources to provide for people in need throughout Macedonia. This happened in a lot of places, but one place was the city of Corinth. The Corinthians gave above and beyond what they had to because the Jerusalem church was desperately poor. But from OT gleaning laws to the NT teaching of Jesus on serving the least of these, you can’t read the Bible and miss God’s heart for the poor and the most vulnerable among us. Love could’ve led to care for the poor. Or, these works of love could’ve been seen in their willingness to embrace people from all sorts of different backgrounds. The difference between Jew and Gentile back then was huge. But the gospel “is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (Ro 1:16). Or maybe they did any number of things to love one another beyond the borders of their city. Let’s keep going and see if we can get any clues about what kind of love Paul is talking about. Let’s pick up the second half of v. 10.
1 Thessalonians 4:10b-11a (NIV), “Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life…” This is so countercultural for us today. But I would guess this would not have been common advice for people back in Thessalonica almost 2,000 years ago, either. Remember, Thessalonica was a big city. It was also a port city, and it was located on the famous Via Egnatia, the main east/west road used for trade. There were all kinds of businesses happening there. Lots of goods and services, and people flowing in and out. But remember, it was also the capital of Macedonia. This made it a center for politics as well. None of this sounds like the background for a quiet life. But I think Paul knows what he’s asking of them. Did you notice the word he uses to encourage them to a quiet life? Ambition. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life. Ambition? It just doesn’t seem to fit, unless Paul was being ironic. However, commentator Gene Green writes that what was going on is that Paul was addressing the common cultural practice of the client/patron relationship. He writes, “Clients were attached to patrons of higher status and economic solvency, hoping to receive from them benefits such as food and representation, while they gave their patrons honor and augmented their status in society by showing up for the morning greeting at their home and giving them public support. The more clients a person would have, the more important he or she would appear to others. Honor was the name of the game.” (Green, Gene L. The Letters to the Thessalonians. W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos, 2002, p. 208.) This practice just doesn’t fit with the way of Jesus. It’s not that we can’t show honor to others, we certainly can! It’s that we shouldn’t base our work or our worth on taking advantage of others. If God doesn’t show favoritism, then we shouldn’t either. We are all one in the church because of our faith in Christ, not because we all belong to the same group or class. But back then, it would be easy to see how you could have the ambition to gather more and more clients in order to boost your own status or ego — to get a better seat at the table yourself. All you had to do was keep your clients happy, and they would serve your purposes. But this is really the opposite of Christian love and honor. We love because Jesus has loved us first. And how did Jesus love us? He died on the cross for our sins. He served our needs long before we could do a single thing to boost his status or ego. He served us, he came for us, he died for us because he loved us first. Period. This wasn’t a transaction; this was an act of unconditional and undeserved love. This was Jesus’ ambition. This is what he set his face to do. This is what he wouldn’t be distracted from, no matter how great the temptation was, even by Satan himself. And if this was Jesus’ ambition, maybe, then our ambition shouldn’t be as much about us as it is about others. And about loving others. But how can you best love others in such a hostile environment? How can you love people when you’re fighting to stay faithful yourself? Lead a quiet life. What does that mean? Like, don’t be talkative? Don’t play loud music? Look back at v. 11.
1 Thessalonians 4:11b-12 (NIV), “You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.” What does it mean to live a quiet life? Two things. First, it means you should mind your own business (MYOB). I’m pretty sure I heard my elementary school teachers say that more than once. (To others, not to me!) It’s so easy to focus on other people’s flaws, isn’t it? We all have blind spots. The problem is not everyone is blind to them, only we are! It’s easy to see what other people struggle with, but it can be pretty difficult for us to see or understand these things for ourselves. Without a mirror, it’s easier to see a pimple on someone else’s face than on your own. Nevertheless, you should mind your own business. Now, this doesn’t mean we are never to teach someone or gently correct them or confront them if they are doing real harm to someone else. There are other passages that teach us how to do those things. But against the backdrop of the cultural practice of client/patron relationships, I think what Paul is talking about is minding other people’s business so as to boost someone else’s status or ego, or expecting others to do the same for you. So first, MYOB. Second, work with your hands. Do something meaningful. Don’t be idle, expecting others to take care of you. Go build something new. Go fix something that’s broken. Go create something people need. Go heal someone. Go grow something important. Now, this is good advice for many reasons. During the pandemic, like many people, I built two big raised bed garden boxes in my backyard. I bought a book called “The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible” (which is mildly sacrilegious) and some grow lights for my tomato plants that I’m pretty sure were made for people who wanted to grow weed at home. I promise I’ve only used them for tomatoes. But I made it my ambition to lead a quiet life. Some people learned to make bread, others started gardening (remember that time?). With all the anger and anxiety flying around the world and around our social media feeds during that time, I don’t know about you, but it really helped me to do something helpful with my hands, to work with my hands. And to see/enjoy the fruit of what my hands and my hard work produced. That was good; it was a better way to live. And I’ve kept it up ever since. Minding your own business and working with your hands is good for your mental health. But Paul doesn’t mention this benefit. He says the Thessalonians should do this for two reasons: First, because then their daily life might win the respect of outsiders, and, second, so that they will not be dependent on anybody. These early Christians faced intense persecution for their faith. The Jewish believers were thrown out of the synagogue and were ostracized by their fellow Jews. The Gentile believers were accused of teaching unlawful practices in the Roman Empire and of undermining the authority of Caesar, both very dangerous accusations. They surely lost friendships and relationships in their families and in the community. Some might’ve lost businesses and even their very lives for their faith in Jesus. The last thing these Christians needed was to unnecessarily cause people to be against them. Mind your own business and work with your hands. This is a good life. This is a respectable life. You don’t need a bunch of paid clients to pump up your ego or boost your status. That’s an artificial form of respect. Being helpful and reliable and honest leads to true respect. Remember, you represent Christ and his church, even in your daily life. Second, they should live like this because then they won’t be dependent on anyone. Now, there are seasons of life where every single one of us, no matter how strong/successful/wealthy we might be, will be dependent on others. When we are born, we are totally dependent on others. Very often, before we die, we are again totally dependent on others. And this is a broken world. Sometimes, because of illness or injury or for some other reason, you may not be able to work with your hands or provide for yourself. Paul isn’t condemning those situations or people with special needs. Again, I believe he’s addressing the client/patron relationship there in Thessalonica, where the clients were working like crazy for their patron so that the patron could sit back and enjoy the good life at the expense of others. This was not good. And it was not compatible with the Christian commandment to love one another just as Christ loved us. Now, just like last week with sexuality and holiness, this text has so many applications for us today. What does it look like to make it our ambition to lead a quiet life in the age of social media, where self-promotion is normal and you can get rich just by being famous for any reason (good or bad)? It seems that this would lead us to a different way of acting on social media. But what about real life? Paul’s teaching would enable us to live not only a holy life, but also a life of generosity, the generous life. If we pay more attention to our issues than others, and if we work hard and do something meaningful with our time and maybe with our hands, and if we win the respect of others and are not reliant on others unless we have to be, then we will have the capacity to be generous. We will have the capacity for generosity. And generous people truly represent Christ and his love and his works of love at the heart of the gospel. Is this our ambition? To be holy and generous? Is this the ambition of our church? May we be people whose work is produced by our faith, and our labor is prompted by our love, and our endurance is inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray.
