Living as Cultural Minorities in a World of Sexual Immorality

Introduction

Tonight we are continuing our cultural minority series dealing with how we as Christians are minorities in a variety of areas. Tonight we are going to look specifically at sexual immorality.

I understand that our children are in here tonight. However, I believe that our discussion this evening can accomplish its task in a tasteful manner. I believe our discussion tonight also helps in doing something that has all too often been neglected by the church as a whole.

Our driving text tonight for our discussion is Philippians 4:8–9 “8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

I want to begin by first looking at the definition of purity.

Does our culture have a definition of purity? If so, how do they define it?

Culture does not have a standard for sexual purity. Culture says to release your sexuality any time and any place. Some parts would go as far as to say that we are discriminating against someone by making a line of purity and holding to it.

2. How does the Bible define purity?

To commit to refrain from and sexual activity outside of marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:1–5 NASB95

1 Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. 3 The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

1 Corinthians 6:12–19 NASB95

12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. 18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

Matthew 15:19 NASB95

19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

Here is a case study to evaluate while answering these two main questions:

A single Christian girl ends up having a baby without realizing she had been pregnant much of the time. As we think of this situation how does the church handle a situation like this?

Main Question #1) Where are we losing the line of purity? i.e. how is it creeping into the church?

Main Question #2) How do we hold the line of purity and living spiritually?

I. The Christian thinks righteously through proper reasoning, 8.

As I mentioned at the beginning that our world does not want to believe in absolutes. We want to have a way of feeling good about ourselves. The societal thinking that is crept its way into the church that we all battle is making decisions based on our feelings rather than what scripture teaches. We bristle immediately if it does not feel right to us. How many times have you heard or said the statement “it just does not feel right” or “it just does not feel comfortable”? These statements may seem benign at face value. However they ask the wrong questions. The question should be “what does God say in his Word IS right”? “What principles of God’s Word gives me direction?”

So today in helping us to have a correct and objective thinking we are going to look at what God’s Word does tell us. Let’s walk through each of these descriptors and see what you and I are to have our minds dwell on and reason through.

Whatever is true -

It entails truth in its broadest sense speaking of truth in our thoughts, attitudes and actions. This refers to that which has moral truthfulness, it is true in its ethical qualities, valid and honest, and it corresponds to God’s nature. Truth begins with God himself, therefore, whatever embodies the trueness of God is what we are to be thinking, meditating, contemplating, dwelling on! John 17:17 "Sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth”.

The struggle for us today is that our flesh does not want the truth. Satan seeks to influence us to be absent of truth for he is the father of lies (John 8:44). He seeks to deceive us and get us to believe the lies of this wicked world. Lies like pleasure satisfies, God is not a God of love, the Christian life is restrictive not freeing. All of these and more are just lies that Satan influences us with to get us to sin and fall in our relationship with God.

Thinking on what is true leads to a spiritual life that evokes dependability and realness.

whatever is honorable -

This points to everything that is respectful, has dignity and revered. It is used in the NT a few other places. 1 Timothy uses the word to refer to the older men, deacons and women. The Christian must focus their thoughts on that which is noble and honorable and not vulgar and degrading. The believer is to reach to have a thinking that is well respected and honorable.

honorable thinking leads to a spiritual life that evokes honor.

whatever is right -

This entails the idea of righteousness. Righteousness can best be defined in the character of God (Psalm 11:7 For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.) It is His righteousness that was imputed on the believer at the point of salvation. This righteousness gives the believer the ability to live in a right way. The right way of living is that which is in step with God’s righteous character. Every thought and action God has and does is right and never sinful, never wrong.

It is here we can again see the rub against some of the thinking in our culture. People do not want absolute truth because then their “truth” may not be honorable or right. Rightness in thinking is based on the character of God! Do you think righteously?

Righteous thinking leads a spiritual life that evokes godly character.

whatever is pure -

this word comes from a word that meant to stand in awe of someone. It was later used to transfer a sense of holiness or purity. In the NT, this word is only used in the epistles and it means to be morally pure and chaste. James uses this to refer to heavenly wisdom (James 3:17). It is used of leaders in the church (1 Timothy 5:22). Here in our passage it is fairly comprehensive. One commentator put it this way “having in view purity of thought and purpose as well as words and actions. Further, ἁγνά has to do with purity in sexual matters, although it is not limited to these since all areas of ethical purity are covered.” (Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991), 505.)

We are to be pure and holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:16-17) therefore our thoughts must be on those things that lead us to this destination of holiness and purity. Marriages and families have been destroyed because a spouse or a child has played with and fallen into immoral sexual thinking. We have just a few weeks ago discussed the idea of a pure mind. Purity is vital to having a right, honorable, and true testimony with those around you.

Pure thinking leads a spiritual life that evokes pure actions reflecting the holiness of God.

whatever is lovely -

this word is only used here in all the NT. By Paul choosing this word here alone places a strong emphasis on it. The word is telling the Christian to be thinking thoughts that calls love to be manifested. The basic meaning of the word is ‘that which calls forth love, love-inspiring’, and here it has the passive sense of ‘lovely, pleasing, agreeable, amiable’. (Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Epistle to the Philippians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991), 505.)

The Christian must be seeking to have thoughts the invoke love agreeableness. We need to seek to be attractive to those in the church. We are not to have thoughts of divisiveness to each other. Are you holding a grudge against someone this afternoon? At the start of this chapter Paul gives an example of two ladies not loving each other. They were not thinking on what was lovely but rather what was self-focused. Do you find yourself always a bit disagreeable? Do you like to argue? Are you always gruff with people?

Lovely thinking leads a spiritual life that evokes an amiable and loveliness toward others, circumstances and ultimately God.

whatever is of good repute -

this is like the word for lovely, only used here in the NT. It is a derivative of the word for praise. It carries the meaning of well-spoken of or having a good reputation. This carries the idea of attractive and appealing. One commentator expressed it as thinking that is likely to win people rather than offend them. We must think on things worth talking about rather than empty and worthless.

In summary our thoughts should consider those things that are commendable, can be highly spoken of, and have a good reputation. We should refrain from thinking about that which does not build up and if the thinking was revealed through actions which will happen (for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks), that do not give a good reputation of God, these thoughts must not be in our minds.

These are to be what you and I evaluate our lives by. Everything we think about ought to be considered against this list. If it does not match this list then it should not be something we allow to impact our thinking. In fact David in Psalm 19:7-10 gives us a list very similar to this lit that Paul gives to us in regard to God’s Word. If you and I are going to think right and righteously, if we are evaluate our life choices and what we think about on this list we must know what God says about this list and ever be growing in it. For this to happen we must be in God’s Word meditating on these awesome truths. In fact 4:8 tells us in the last two phrases by way of an all encompassing summary to not think on anything that is:

moral excellence/worthy of praise or commendation -

Having thoughts that are characterized by moral excellence and virtue will propel us to live more like Christ. We must think on whatever is good and promotes praise.

This summarizes and includes the above 6 qualities and all other qualities not mentioned of our thinking. If it is not morally excellent (standard is God) or cannot draw out actions worthy of God-honoring praisewe ought not dwell on it nad let it consume our thinking.

Example: Worry is something we all struggle with in some shape or fashion. Worry does not match up with any of these qualities. It is not true as it conjures up false thinking about your situation and God’s control over the situation.

The negative of this positive command, a command that has a either/or choice, is to refuse that which is opposite of these demands on our thoughts. When temptation to think in opposition to God’s laid out methods for our thinking comes to press us we must evaluate them according to this text. God has given us a wonderful sieve to pour our thoughts into, that sieve is scripture! Everything in scripture will tell you what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, of good report, moral excellence, and praiseworthy. It may be a positive or negative example but it will show and demonstrate to you the righteous way of thinking on anything.

Transition: Paul does not stop with the believer’s mind and thinking. He continues on and adds to right thinking the truth of right living.

II. The Christian lives righteously through proper living, 9.

Paul has told the church in Philippi how to think on multiple occasions in this letter. With each time he mentions the way one must think it is followed with ones actions. Every thought reaps an action. Like the statement many of you have heard “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.” It is important for each of us to understand that our thoughts truly impact our actions and that to think we can operate separate from what we are thinking about is futile thinking. Paul cared for the church in Philippi to be a unified church with the joy of the Lord being manifested through their partnership in the gospel. He restates his desire in a personal testimony type of way. He tell them to practice what they have learned, received, heard and seen in Paul. Paul in other letters says similar statements regarding imitating him as he imitates Christ.

This verse is not in isolation from the previous verse. The qualities of thinking Paul mentions in v. 8 directly impacted his lifestyle. So what did Paul mean when he stated these four example focused words.

“learned” - this is the idea of instruction or teaching.

“received” - to accept or receive instruction

“heard” - to hear

“seen” - to perceive, to see

The tense and mood of these words emphasizes that Paul is referring to something that took place in the Philippians life in the past with present implications as he gives it more force with the word he uses to instruct what to do with these four words—PRACTICE them. The content of what he has taught them and the content of his example needs to be being lived out daily in their lives. Paul is looking back at verse 8 and you could also say he is referring to the entire letter and his time while he was with them in person. It is not completely clear in the text which is the direct correlation so it is not incorrect to take all of it.

For the Christian today, we need to take this same command Paul gives to practice what he has taught and exemplified and do it. In order for us to do it we must have right thinking. Paul is concluding his letter to the Philippians and telling them that right living is living that is unified in the gospel providing gospel joy that comes from being an ambassador for Christ and seeking to know God intimately. We are not to quarrel among ourselves. We are not to live in sadness and discouragement because the Lord is coming again. We are not ot worry because the peace of God will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus therefore, Pray! We are to then think right thus living right!

We all too often sit and hear sermons preached but nothing is being heard. We are given instruction but we refuse or neglect to receive it. We see godly examples around us and even marvel at them but go away unfazed. See to neglect what Paul is telling us to do here is to lose out on a wonderful blessing…the God of peace! If you want God’s peace in your life we must have right thinking that leads to right living! We must apply the biblical and theological truths give to us from God’s Word and through God’s people. Joy and unity and peace will not come to the one who neglects to live right. The presence of God will have a heavy impact rather than a joy filled and lightening impact.

God’s Word tells us how to live! Will you live right?