This Is the Will of God
Thessalonians 1 • Sermon • Submitted
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1 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
On the foundation established Paul is encouraging them to abound more and more. Listen to the definitions of abound and more:
Abound. “A degree which is considerably in excess of some point on an implied or explicit scale of extent.” It’s excessive, extreme, much greater, and very great. So if on a scale of 1-100 with 100 being the top number, abound is off the charts! Waaayyyy in excess of it. It having way more than enough.
More and more. It’s close in definition to abound. It’s “a degree which surpasses in some manner a point on an explicit or implicit scale of intent.” Where abound is considerably in excess, more is closer to a normal amount. So if you’re on a scale of 1-100, more would be 110.
Paul’s specific target for abounding is “to walk and to please God.” We’ve already covered what walking and pleasing God means but here’s the thought I had as I was pondering this: How many Christians are living OFF THE CHART in their walk and pleasing God? We know a big part of pleasing God is faith. I can’t say that I’m off the charts yet! But listen to the Passion:
1 And now, beloved brothers and sisters, since you have been mentored by us with respect to living for God and pleasing him, I appeal to you in the name of the Lord Jesus with this request: keep faithfully growing through our teachings even more and more. 2 For you already know the instructions we’ve shared with you through the Lord Jesus.
I love this. Mentored by us. Keep faithfully growing through our teachings. That is what teaching is all about: mentoring believers so they can live OFF THE CHARTS lives. Lives that are no longer subject to lesser meaning, living, or thought patterns. Lives that demand a new approach!
And then Paul mentions “instructions we’ve shared with you through the Lord Jesus.” Translated commandments in the NKJV, this word is different than the word used to describe the two commandments in . Here it is “a charge by the Apostles. Strictly used of commands received from a superior and transmitted to others.” It’s an “order, instruction.” And notice Paul says that these commands came THROUGH the Lord Jesus. This wasn’t a power trip, a religious rule, or even a command through human reasoning to stop some behavior or sin in the church. This was the Holy Spirit instructing the Lord’s wishes through His Apostles.
Before getting into the instructions, which Paul repeats in this letter to them, know that some of the commands in the epistles are specific to those churches and others are universal to the entire church. It’s important to know the context.
For example, we learned that the command for a woman not to teach a man, which has silenced women for years, was specific to Corinth due to the idolatrous views of women due to cult activity there. Women were considered above men and looked up like gods. Now that some of them were born again, they were trying a hostile take over (which is what the Greek) means and be superior to the men.
Also, man is husband in the Greek and woman is wife in the Greek. Both apply but the main idea was that the women there were trying to be lords over the men and until that mentality was dealt with Paul said that women couldn’t teach. We also know it was specific to them because lists women apostles, ministers, and deaconesses. There are women prophetesses mentioned in the OT and NT as well as elders.
In the context of 1 Thessalonians, his instructions are universal to the church. Let’s dive in.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;
So far we’ve learned what we called to, why we exist, and now we’re learning His will-our sanctification and that we abstain from sexual immorality. Remember that we studied this in the message, “Finding the Favor of God,” in our favor series on LOYAL LOVE. Let me hit on a few points from that message to refresh our memories:
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
4 And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man.
NKJVLet not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
“Hold on to loyal love and don’t let go, and be faithful to all that you’ve been taught. Let your life be shaped by integrity, with truth written upon your heart.” TPT
“Hold on to loyal love and don’t let go, and be faithful to all that you’ve been taught. Let your life be shaped by integrity, with truth written upon your heart.”
LOYAL LOVE is the BEST definition...What’s interesting is that this word for mercy, hesed, has a flip side use and can also mean “disgrace, shame, i.e. a moral evil that is a sexual misbehavior, with a focus on the embarrassing behavior before God or society...shame, disgrace.” The idea is whether it’s love for your spouse or for the Lord, your love is to be LOYAL to the one.
God views sexual immorality in the believer’s life as an act of disloyalty to Him. Really, it is idolatry because one is placing a person above the Lord’s will. So let’s break this down carefully so there’s no question what the Lord means here. Sanctification is “to dedicate to the service of and to LOYALTY to deity.” It’s not so much the manner of life you live but the SPECIFIC things you do to show your dedication to God, and the Greek shows it’s an ongoing process. Here, Paul is specifically saying that our sanctification is evident by our sexual purity.
Here Paul is specifically saying that our sanctification is evident by our sexual purity.
What exactly is sexual immortality according to the Greek here:
Prostitution
Extra marital intercourseIntercourse OUTSIDE of marriage or what we call fornication
Unnatural intercourse (males with males, females with females, humans and animals, etc.)
Porneia, the Greek word used here, is where we get the word pornography
Some, even today, in the church try to say that they’re not committing fornication because they consider themselves married just by making commitments versus actually getting legally married. This is BS. Paul clearly states in that one should get married if one can’t control his or her sexual desires, implying that there’s a ceremonial and legal aspect to the act of getting married. It’s been that way in all cultures throughout history.
2 Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
BECAUSE OF SEXUAL IMMORALITY, Paul says to get married. Where’s the marriage part? In the original language. “Have” is “to possess, to own, TO BELONG TO.” Wife is “a woman who is married to a man.” Before you think that this can be done with vows to each other in your bedroom before you fornicate, understand that in the OT, in the NT, and today, marriage was considered lawful by a MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE. It was a legally binding agreement that REQUIRED a CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE to let the wife or husband out of the marriage legally so that person could remarry.
FOR GOD, A PERSON IS MARRIED WHEN THEY HAVE A LEGAL PAPER DECLARING THEM TO BE SO AND DIVORCED WHEN THEY HAVE A LEGAL PAPER DECLARING THEM TO BE SO.
4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
Passion is “to experience strong physical desires, particularly of a sexual nature.” Sexual passion is one of the strongest out there. That’s why Paul says that “each of you should know HOW TO POSSESS his own vessel in sanctification and honor.”
Lust is “to strongly desire to have what belongs to someone else and/or to engage in an activity which is morally wrong.” Now let’s break this down in a way everyone can understand.
NKJV that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.
“To strongly desire to have what belongs to someone else,” is the reality that if when you sleep with someone who’s not your spouse, you’re sleeping with someone else’s future spouse defiling and defrauding what should belong to them only. That person is not yours unless legally married. And the Bible make it plain that it’s also morally wrong.
S
Know is a word that means “to see with perception.” It’s “to have the knowledge as to how to perform a particular activity or to accomplish a goal.” Possess his own vessel refers “to sexual relations.” You and Holy Spirit need to get a strategy for the HOW. A very clear how is to not put yourself in situations where that can be stirred up and run as fast as you can when tempted. But the deeper issue is one of loyalty to God like we discussed earlier.
The word honor plays a huge role in the how. Honor means “to respect, esteem.” Do you respect yourself and esteem yourself as better than that? If so, you are stronger when tempted. If you have low respect and esteem for yourself, you’ll dishonor yourself, the other person, and God.
1 Thess 4:
6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.
“Take advantage of and defraud” is a term for a business transaction! It also means “to step over, to break in, to transgress legal ordinances, to cross a boundary.” By putting this word with defraud, which is “to greedily take advantage of someone,” you get the idea of “RUTHLESS DEFRAUDING.” It also goes back to the idea of crossing a boundary into violating what should only belong to that person’s future spouse. And don’t play the, “We’re going to get married card.” Unless there’s a legal contract, YOU. ARE. NOT. MARRIED.
“Take advantage of and defraud” is a term for a business transaction! It also means “to step over, to break in, to transgress legal ordinances, to cross a boundary.” By putting this word with defraud, which is “to greedily take advantage of someone,” you get the idea of “RUTHLESS DEFRAUDING.”
Listen to this:
Both words are designed to emphasise the idea of “ruthless defrauding.”, 7 The correct translation, then, is that one should not “act with force or cunning against one’s brother (disregarding him) and overreach him in business.”
Schneider, J. (1964–). παραβαίνω, παράβασις, παραβάτης, ἀπαράβατος, ὑπερβαίνω. G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, & G. Friedrich (Eds.), Theological dictionary of the New Testament (electronic ed., Vol. 5, p. 744). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
When you sleep with someone outside the legal boundaries of marriage, you’re defrauding that person of the legal rights due him or her but in God’s kingdom, you’re also stealing, defrauding each person’s spiritual right’s because sexual sin separates one from God.
Paul then gives a promise: The Lord is the avenger of all such. Avenger is one “who executes a judicial sentence.” Those who defraud another in sexual sin become God’s enemy because you’re no longer just sinning, you’re enticing another to sin.
1 Thess
7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
Uncleanness is “of physical, cultic, and moral impurity” and according to ancient thought all of these “are closely intertwined. Physical uncleanness takes cultic effect.” It’s a “defilement of the soul.” It’s like “an infection, and renders it …unserviceable.” Uncleanness is most commonly used to refer to sexual sin. Holiness is the exact word used for SANCTIFICATION.
The will of God is for you to be sexually pure. Those who reject this aren’t rejecting man but God. Reject is “to set aside, to disregard, to break and oath, . It’s translated 22 fo the 60 times as “to act unfaithfully,” “to be apostate,” and 10 of them as “to fall away.” Interestingly, it’s tied to one’s belief in the person giving the instruction. It means “to believe that something or someone cannot be trusted or relied on and hence to reject.” Rejecting this is personal to God. You’re not rejecting the command or the men who released the command but God Himself.
The will of God is for you to be sexually pure.
The reason this is so awful, other than the fact it hurts God’s heart, is because GOD NOW DWELLS IN US, which is why Paul said, “who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” That’s why Paul said:
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is mingled into one spirit with him. 18 This is why you must keep running away from sexual immorality. For every other sin a person commits is external to the body, but immorality involves sinning against your own body.
And he also instructed this:
9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”
1 cor 5:9-
Those who commit these specific sins as Christians are called “evil persons.” We’re to not even eat with them. Sin is like leaven; it spreads and once in there, impossible to get out. That’s why Paul was so adamant that if a person refuses to stop sexual sin, kick them out of the church.