Paul is writing to the Thessalonian Christians asking them and urging them to excel even more in living a life that is pleasing to God. Paul does not want these Christians to become spiritually stagnant. Paul does not want these Christians to experience a spiritual regression. He urges them to grow and to keep on growing. Paul did not write to these Christians to discourage those who were striving to please the Lord in their lives. Rather, Paul wrote to warning them about letting up in their spiritual progress. He did not want their intensity for the love of the Lord to wane. He did not want them to become lukewarm or lose the love that they presently have. So it is important to hear what Paul is trying to do for these Christians and for us. Satan is trying to destroy us and destroy our faith. One of the ways he tries to destroy our faith is by tempting us to not continue to strive to be pleasing to the Lord. We are called to grow. We are called to more. Open your copies of God’s word to 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 and we are going to see how Paul is calling us for more holiness.
God’s Will Is Your Holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
I want the beginning of verse 3 to rest on your minds for a moment. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” The first word, “For” shows that we are not on a new topic. Rather, excelling even more in being pleasing to God will look like this. It is the will of God for each of us to be holy. Our holiness is the will of God. Holiness has always been a key defining characteristic of God’s people (cf. Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 26:18-19; Leviticus 11:44; 19:2). Sometimes we want to think that God’s will is hard to figure out. Sometimes people will say that they just want to know what God’s will is for their lives. Here is a clear answer that God gives to every person who wants to hear it. God’s will for your life is holiness. What does it mean to be holy? Holiness is about being distinct. It is about being different and being separated from something else. In particular, God was calling for his people to live differently from the other people in the world (cf. Leviticus 20:23-26). Now it is important to underscore that this does not mean that we just live different to be different. This does not mean that we do not use televisions or do not drive cars or come up with some way to look different to the world. Holiness is defined by God. We are called to live differently in the ways God tells us to live differently. In fact, Paul warned Christians about trying to be holy by rejecting things in this world that God did not tell them to reject (cf. Colossians 2:21-23; 1 Timothy 4:3-4). But Paul is going to identify three areas where we are commanded to live differently (be holy) when it comes to our bodies.
Abstain From Sexual Immorality (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
Paul tells us that holiness requires abstaining from sexual immorality. What is sexual immorality? The Greek word used from which we have the English words “sexual immorality” is a very broad word. Scholars consistently note that this word refers to any sexual activity outside of a God-approved marriage between a man and woman. If you are not married, then any kind of sexual activity is condemned. Those desires are only to be fulfilled in a God-approved marriage. If you are married, then any kind of sexual activity that is not with your spouse is condemned. The writer of Hebrews stated this point bluntly and clearly:
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. (Hebrews 13:4 ESV)
Marriage is not being held in honor and the marriage bed undefiled when there is premarital sexual activity and extramarital sexual activity. Now I want us to hear what Paul is saying. Paul is telling us to say no. Paul is telling us to abstain. We can say no. Friends, it does not matter what the other person is saying, doing, or wearing, we have the power to say no to sexual immorality. There is no one to blame but ourselves when we are sexually immoral. We are not unthinking animals. We can be holy and abstain from sexual immorality, regardless of what another person is wearing or not wearing and regardless of the words and actions they use to tempt. Joseph showed us this when he was in Egypt being tempted every day to sexual immorality with Potipher’s wife. We have the power to say no. We can abstain and we can abstain every day. Do not let the lies of the world tell you that sexual immorality is acceptable. Do not let the lies of the world tell you that you cannot practice abstaining from sexual activity. We must choose holiness. We must excel still more in abstaining from sexual immorality.
Control Your Body In Holiness (1 Thessalonians 4:4-5)
Paul continues in verses 4-5 with the second way we are to have holiness in our lives. Paul says that we are to control our own bodies in holiness and in honor, not in the passion of lust. The imagery here is unique and causes some arguments over what Paul means. How do you possess or acquire your own body in holiness and honor, and not in the passion of lust? Here is the point I believe Paul is making. You can acquire your body and bring it back under control. When consumed by the passions of lust, you can feel controlled by the lusts of the flesh. You can feel like the body is stronger than your will. But you can take back control of your body. You can control your body. You can acquire and possess your body again so that it is operating in holiness and honor and no longer in lust like the world does.
It is so sad to see a world that is so consumed by the passion of lust that they will bring every disease upon themselves just to continue their sinful sexual behavior. It is shocking that we are in a world so consumed by the passion of lust that we will murder life so that we can continue to fulfill our sexual desires. We are told that we are to go and acquire our body in holiness and honor. Go and possess your body. Exercise control over it. This is possible. When we are consumed in our passions, it does not seem like we can exercise control again. But God says we can. Further, we know we can. Before we were married, we were able to exercise control. When your spouse was out of town, you were able exercise control. It is a false excuse to say that we cannot control ourselves. We can and we must. We have been studying in Romans 7-8 on Sunday evenings that Christ has given us the victory so that we can say no to sin. Paul is telling us that we can go capture our bodies and bring them back under control. Holiness means submitting our fleshly desires to the will of God and fulfilling those desires only in God-approved ways. We must excel still more in controlling our bodies in holiness and honor.
Do Not Transgress and Wrong Your Brother (1 Thessalonians 4:6)
The third picture of holiness over our bodies is in verse 6. We are not to wrong or take advantage of others in this matter. While it is certainly true that we are not to ever take advantage or wrong each other in any matter, our context is about sexual activity. I want us to think about what Paul is putting down for us. Sexual immorality is selfishness. Sexual immorality is about getting what I want. Sexual immorality wrongs the other person and takes advantage of them. We might ask why this is the case. We are being selfish because we are thinking about what we want to have. We are thinking about what we are going to get out of this transaction. By definition, we are using the other person to get what we want. Therefore, we are defrauding them and taking advantage of them.
Further, adultery violates and wrongs many people. The marriage is being violated and your spouse, who has exclusive rights to your body (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:3-4), is being wronged. Can I remind us of another impact when it comes to adultery? You are sinning against your children when you are sexually immoral and commit adultery. You are wronging them. You are destroying their lives for your own selfish pleasures. You are also sinning against your friends and the church. They are going to have deal with the consequences of your sinful decisions. Please think about these things in this way. As Christians, we are called to self-sacrifice. We are called to put the interests of others ahead of ourselves. We are called to end selfish thinking and selfish ambition and lay down our lives for each other. Do we think that when it comes to our bodies and sexual desires that these truths do not apply? We are called to self-sacrifice and to give ourselves, doing what is in the best interest of others in marriage bed. We are called to not defraud others with our sexual desires and lusts. We do not suddenly allow selfishness when it comes to these passions. Do not transgress and take advantage of others in this matter. We must excel still more in not taking advantage of others.
Two Reasons (1 Thessalonians 4:6-7)
Now Paul reminds us with two reasons why sexual purity is so important. First, in verse 6, Paul proclaimed that the Lord is an avenger in all these things. There are two points where this will happen. God will certainly punish all who commit these sins without repentance on the day of judgment. We already read this in Hebrews 13:4. God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. No one is getting away with their sins. Even the sexual sins that we think are so hidden are not hidden from the sight of God.
But I think we need to remember another important punishment. God warns us that there are severe consequences in this life for committing sexual immorality. Listen to what the writer of the Proverbs says about those who participate in sexual immorality.
Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil, in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps head straight for Sheol. She doesn’t consider the path of life; she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable. So now, sons, listen to me, and don’t turn away from the words from my mouth. Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house. Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others and your years to someone cruel; strangers will drain your resources, and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner’s house. At the end of your life, you will lament when your physical body has been consumed, and you will say, “How I hated discipline, and how my heart despised correction. I didn’t obey my teachers or listen closely to my instructors. I am on the verge of complete ruin before the entire community.” (Proverbs 5:3-14 CSB)
Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he ponders all his paths. The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray. (Proverbs 5:20-23 ESV)
With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life. And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth. Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths, for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death. (Proverbs 7:21-27 ESV)
Friends, how many people have been caught cheating? How many people have lost their marriages because of an affair? How many people no longer have a family because of their sexual desires? How many people give half their income away in alimony and child support because of their adulterous ways? Adultery is a trap. Pornography is destructive. Sexual immorality will catch up to you and you will pay the consequences for your choices. It is a foolish sin that leaves you empty and in ruin. The Lord is an avenger in all these things.
Second, in verse 7, God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. This brings the discussion full circle. This is the will of God, your holiness. You have been called to be holy. You have been called to be different than the world when it comes to sexual desires. Abstain from sexual immorality. Regain control over your body in holiness and honor. Do not wrong and take advantage of others in this matter.
Conclusion (1 Thessalonians 4:8)
The final point is in verse 8. Holiness is not optional. Whoever disregards this instruction is disregarding God who gives his Holy Spirit to us. Paul is very clear. If we reject holiness when it comes to sexual desires, then we rejecting God himself, which means we are rejecting the Spirit and the new life he gives. Sexual immorality is not pleasing to God. We are called to please God and to excel even more and more in it. Everyone here wants to be pleasing to God. Therefore, we must control our bodies and use them in holiness and honor.
What is the hope of the gospel? What does it mean if we have failed in these areas in the past? Listen to what Paul said to the Corinthian Christians.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV)
You can be made clean. You need to repent and change. Continuing to practice these things means we will not inherit the kingdom of God. But you can be washed. You can be made holy. You can be justified (declared righteous) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. Our failure does not have to be final. But we need to turn and fight against the sins of the flesh. We need to turn and abstain from sexual immorality. We need to turn and control our bodies in holiness and honor. We need to turn and stop taking advantage of others to fulfill our own fleshly desires.