Make It Your Ambition to Lead a Quiet Life (1 Thessalonians 4:11)

Paul said, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands" (1 Thessalonians 4:11). Read this material from Being Content God’s Way to learn to be content with a quiet life and mind your own business! Table of contentsContent Leading a Quiet LifeMost of Us Will Be a Thaddeus or a BaruchThe Premier Example of Leading a Quiet Life Content Leading a Quiet Life Paul said, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). Instead of “seeking great things” (Jeremiah 45:5) and “despising days of small things” (Zechariah 4:10), we should “aspire to lead [quiet lives].” The world tempts us to crave fame, attention, and recognition. Can you imagine anything less attractive in society’s eyes than a quiet life? What God wants from us is the opposite of what the world promotes. It pleases God if we lead simple, humble lives of obedience, often filled with small, ordinary routines. The days are far from glamorous. While this might sound discouraging, it should be encouraging because it frees us from striving to become big, noticed, and heard. First Corinthians 10:31 says, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Why did Paul mention eating and drinking? Because there aren’t many “[smaller] things” than these! What could be simpler or more routine? Colossians 3:17 says, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Whatever we do, no matter how small or insignificant, can be done for God’s glory and pleasure! Most of Us Will Be a Thaddeus or a Baruch The judges were important, but could most Christians tell you what they did? They could probably discuss Samson and Gideon, maybe Ehud and Othniel, but would they even remember the names of Tola, Jair, Elon, or Abdon? Consider the kings. People could tell you about David and Solomon, maybe Hezekiah and Josiah, but would they remember anything about Amaziah and Jotham? Consider the prophets. Most people know Samuel, Elijah, and Jeremiah, but do they know anything about Amos and Obadiah? Consider the apostles. Second only to Jesus, they are the most important men in the New Testament. Ephesians 2:20 says the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles,” and Revelation 21:14 says, “The wall of the [New Jerusalem] had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles.” Could these men sound more important? Yet most people could not name half of them. Besides Peter, James, John, Judas, and Thomas (only because of the account of his doubting), what do we know about the other apostles? If you ask people which apostle they most identify with, they will probably tell you, Peter. He was known for opening his mouth when he should have been quiet, and we have the same problem. The other reason we can relate to Peter is that so little is written about the rest of the apostles that we can’t identify with them! Judas, the son of James, is also known as Thaddaeus, which distinguishes him from Judas Iscariot. He’s mentioned in the lists of the disciples (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18, Luke 6:16, and Acts 1:13), and John 14:22 records, “Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, ‘Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?’” He’s on the list of the disciples, and he asks Jesus one question. That’s all that’s recorded about him. How famous are apostles, judges, kings, and prophets if people hardly know anything about them? The point is that even the people in Scripture we think were extraordinary were ordinary. This should encourage us because if we are going to “live quiet lives” filled with “small things,” we are going to be more like Thaddaeus, Tola, Jair, Jotham, and Amos than Peter, Gideon, David, and Elijah. The Premier Example of Leading a Quiet Life If it isn’t God’s will to have, accomplish, or experience something, we must give up what we want and choose to be content with what God wants. God wanted Baruch to be content with His will for his life, with who He had called him to be, and what He had called him to do. So, let me ask: Are you content with God’s will for your life, who He has called you to be, and what He has called you to do? We must prayerfully pursue God’s will. Not our will or someone else’s will. Jesus demonstrated this throughout his earthly life: “I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:30; see also John 6:38 and Matthew 26:39). Jesus also modeled leading a quiet life and being faithful in small things. If we strip away the miraculous and supernatural, we see His life was characterized by modesty, humility, and simplicity. There was a lack of extravagance and glamor. Why did the Jews reject Jesus? They thought the Messiah would deliver them from their oppression like Moses delivered Israel from Egypt. He would be a great military leader like David—the Messiah was “the Son of David”—and give Israel victories over the Romans like David gave Israel victories over the Philistines. He would be a great king and restore the nation to the Golden Age as they experienced under Solomon. Instead, they had a Man walking around on dirt roads with “nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). Jesus could not have looked less like a rich, glamorous king, and most of the time, He could not have lived a simpler, quieter life. Moses, Jonathan, and John the Baptist’s examples in humbling themselves are challenging, but they pale compared to Jesus’s: [Jesus] being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:6-8). Jesus could have lived like a king and experienced the best the world offers, but He was content to obey His Father and live a simple, modest life. In John 4:34, He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” His “food,” or very existence, was a life of unassuming submission. This should be our food, too, as we find purpose in doing God the Father’s will.