Pastor Ben Smith preaches from 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 on how growing in brotherly love transforms your relationship with the saints, the direction of your life, and your testimony before the world. The transformation of the gospel has both a restrictive and empowering effect on your life. In the previous verse (1-8), the Bible declares that the transforming work of God in the lives of true Christians is to cause you to abstain from sexual immorality. Most read this only as something restrictive. However, in verse 4, the Bible teaches that Christians are able to abstain from sexual immorality because, through the empowerment of God, Christians have mastery over their bodies and are no longer controlled by the passion of lust like the world (5).

Building on this, verses 9-12 declare that the transforming work of God in the lives of true Christians enables you to love one another and that this love transforms everything about your life. This passage identifies three ways brotherly love transforms your life.

When the angel revealed to Joseph that Mary was pregnant with the Messiah, he was declaring that the long wait was over. The long-anticipated Messiah was coming. The Christ has arrived.

The name that the prophet Isaiah gives the messiah is Immanuel. As Matthew recounts the encounter Joseph had with the angel, he reminds us that this name means “God with us.” God stepped out of the glory of heaven to dwell among and with us.

The prophets sang, “Oh come, oh come Immanuel.” The angel declared to Joseph Immanuel had come. Through Jesus, we know the amazing love of God's presence, and sacrifice. And through the love of Jesus, we are transformed.