There is a popular meme going around right now that says that if Paul were alive today, we all would be getting a letter. I laughed when I first saw that and wondered what he would say. His letters are filled with encouragements, exhortations, admonishments, admiration, and not a little rebuking. Each one was tailored to specific group and situation. Which topic would he choose for the modern day reader? Obviously the letters he wrote to Corinth, Thessalonica, Rome, Galatia, Philippi, Colossea, and to specific people contained issues and problems each recipient of that letter was experiencing. Which of the many issues facing modern Christians would Paul address if he were to write to us today?

1 Thessalonians 4 (Common English Bible)

4 So then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to keep living the way you already are and even do better in how you live and please God—just as you learned from us. ² You know the instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³ God’s will is that your lives are dedicated to him. This means that you stay away from sexual immorality ⁴ and learn how to control your own body in a pure and respectable way. ⁵ Don’t be controlled by your sexual urges like the Gentiles who don’t know God. ⁶ No one should mistreat or take advantage of their brother or sister in this issue. The Lord punishes people for all these things, as we told you before and sternly warned you. ⁷ God didn’t call us to be immoral but to be dedicated to him. ⁸ Therefore, whoever rejects these instructions isn’t rejecting a human authority. They are rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

This chapter clearly gave instructions about sexual immorality, and Paul laid out an expectation that the people were to control their bodies in a pure and respectable way. He warned them against being controlled by sexual urges and placed a special emphasis on not mistreating or taking advantage of another person in this issue. While he never used the word “consent,” verse 6 clearly implies that lack of respect, lack of control over one’s urges, and taking advantage of someone without consent is immoral. At the heart of this teaching was the Gentile practice of taking on prostitutes, slaves, and mistresses. Paul implies that sexual relations outside the covenant of marriage are to be avoided. The Gentiles didn’t know God and they didn’t know any better. Paul sets a higher standard for his people.

I suspect this topic would make it into today’s letter as well.

And then in typical Pauline fashion, he flipped to the positive and talked about how they already knew how to love each other and praised them for performing loving deeds throughout Macedonia.

⁹ You don’t need us to write about loving your brothers and sisters because God has already taught you to love each other. ¹⁰ In fact, you are doing loving deeds for all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. Now we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do so even more. 

Then, in the midst of Paul already being up in their business, he said something startling in verse 11:

¹¹ Aim to live quietly, mind your own business, and earn your own living, just as I told you.¹² That way you’ll behave appropriately toward outsiders, and you won’t be in need.

Live quietly and mind your own business! Obviously this would result in people living in harmony and peace together, but I have to admit that in all the times I have read Paul’s writings, I don’t remember him saying to mind our own business!

How much better would things be if neighbors didn’t feel the need to report every little annoyance on Facebook? How much easier would church work go if people didn’t congregate at the coffee pot to gossip? What difference would it make in your child’s school day if the other students didn’t talk about them behind their back? What would your workplace feel like if everyone minded their own business and behaved appropriately toward each other? I think Paul is on to something here.

Then he ended with this beautiful promise of what is to come. The Lord will come down at the sound of the trumpet and those who are dead will rise, joining those who are still living. This last bit of encouragement about the Second Coming was precious to the church, and it is precious to us as well.

¹³ Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about people who have died so that you won’t mourn like others who don’t have any hope. ¹⁴ Since we believe that Jesus died and rose, so we also believe that God will bring with him those who have died in Jesus. ¹⁵ What we are saying is a message from the Lord: we who are alive and still around at the Lord’s coming definitely won’t go ahead of those who have died. ¹⁶ This is because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with the signal of a shout by the head angel and a blast on God’s trumpet. First, those who are dead in Christ will rise.¹⁷ Then, we who are living and still around will be taken up together with them in the clouds to meet with the Lord in the air. That way we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸ So encourage each other with these words.

We will always be with each other. We will always be with the Lord. We can be encouraged by these words as we mourn and wait.

And in the meantime, mind your own business!

Be Encouraged by Kathy Schumacher