August 15, 2024 -- I Thessalonians 4:1-8 -- What is God's Will for your life? Your holiness.

Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
I Thessalonians 4:1-8 ESV

Though these words were written almost two thousand years ago, they are as relevant today as they were the moment they were penned. The world around us is sex-saturated. Invitations to lustful thoughts are splashed across magazines at store check-out counters. Even the recently held Olympics have very fit, very scantily clad people, parading across the screen completing in their sport. It is impossible to spend time on the internet and not be faced with all kinds of lurid ads. Even news programs focus on the outrageous sexual exploits of our society.

What is the will of God for those who live in a sex-soaked culture? For the answer, look at verse 3: your sanctification. While the world is getting more and more corrupted and plunges deeper into sexual perversity, the follower of Jesus Christ stands out because of his, or her, deep dedication to the will of God. The Spirit of God lives in the heart of every Christ-follower, revealing the ugliness of sin and contrasting it with the incomparable splendid beauty of life which is in step with the commands of God.

The Christian abstains from sex before marriage, not because God wants to steal the joy of His people, but He has decreed the proper boundaries for healthy sexual expression. A Christian can not see any point in beginning a dating relationship with anyone other than a fellow Christian. To join oneself to a non-believer is a deep rejection of the Father’s will for you, namely, your holiness. The follower of Jesus Christ yields his mind and his heart, his actions and his body to Jesus. To engage in any sexual promiscuity is to defy the will of God for you, namely, your sanctification. How can one grow in holiness if one is actively running far from God and defiantly engaging in sin? The pleasures of sin are quickly over. The consequences of sin linger and bite and wound. The pleasures of holiness increase in the life of one who practices the will of God. The disciple of holiness yields rich fruit.

For the sinner the hot passion of lust fills the senses and leads him away in uncontrolled sexual immorality. For the follower of Jesus Christ, the fiery zeal that fills his senses leads him away from uncontrolled sexual immortality because he knows this will pollute the prized possession of his life: knowing and walking ever more closely with Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ is the highest prize, then all other areas of life are willingly and joyfully submitted to Him. Single or married, rich or poor, healthy or sick, struggling or at ease, every situation of life is found to be an occasion for the very holiness which is God’s desire for you. The disciple of Jesus restrains himself from sexual immorality (really, from any sin) with the joyful anticipation that whatever the Lord has in store is most perfectly enjoyed within the proper boundaries which He has established.

Oh God, our Father, and Jesus our Lord, direct us in Your way. Make us increase and abound in holy love for You and for one another. Spirit of God, establish our hearts blameless in holiness such that when Jesus returns with all His holy ones we can rejoice before the throne of God. Amen.

Prayer is based on I Thessalonians 3:11-13 ESV

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