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Introduction
My Favorite Illustrations (Dig a Straight Canal)
Have you ever looked down on a river while riding in a plane thousands of feet above the ground?
If so, you know that the river’s course winds here and there like the track of a large serpent.
This is because in its formation the river followed the path of least resistance.
On the other hand, a straight canal calls for advance planning, toil, and suffering as those who make it dig and blast their way through the terrain.
Lives are like that.
Crooked or unrighteous lives follow the lines of least resistance.
They twist and turn as they adapt to the changing mores of society.
In doing so, they wander aimlessly with no certainty as to their final destination.
Like those who dig a straight canal, the righteous determine their goal and pay the price necessary to achieve it.
That is the way of Christ.
As we will see today in the text of 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12.
Turn today with me if you will to the text.
Plea: Walk Pleasingly Before God (vv.
1-3a)
Verse 1 exhortation (plea) to live for Christ.
Grow always, expand, have more of Him in your life.
By doing this you will be found as pleasing before the Lord.
You will not shrink away in shame or fear.
You will be faithful and solid in your walk.
Verse 2 The instructions to live this way are from Jesus, through Paul, or pastors now.
It is not an idle command nor is it one that was just made up.
It is from the Lord and one we should all heed.
God is the one who said that we are to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16; c.f., Lev.
11:44).
It is God’s will for you and me.
His will is found in verse 3. Our sanctification.
This word, sanctification comes from a Greek word, hagiasmos, which is related to the adjective, hagios [40], meaning “holy.”
You may have heard of the Hagia Sophia Church in Istanbul, which means “Holy Wisdom” in English.
This word also has a noun form, ho hagios, which means “the saint” or “the holy one.”
In the ancient world it referred to people, places, or things that were consecrated for religious service.
With regard to the Christian, however, it refers to being set apart for God.
All of us as believers are set apart for God.
We are all saints.
This is positional sanctification, meaning that every believer has been sanctified in Christ, set apart to God the moment he or she believes (1 Cor.
6:11; Heb.
10:10).
This is why the New Testament can call all believers, regardless of their spiritual condition, “saints.”
Even though we are this we also have, progressive sanctification.
Sanctification is the goal of life that every believer should be pursuing, that involves separation from evil things and (in this passage) from fornication in particular.
Then there is ultimate sanctification.
When we arrive in heaven it is then that we will finally be completely set apart to God in holiness.
All of this is the direction that we should all be striving for.
This is God’s will for us.
For us to continue to grow in this set apartness, we are to develop this out more and more.
The command of verse 2 is to live a holy righteous life and verse 1 encourages us to live in this set apart life.
It takes work not to allow ourselves to be conformed to the world.
It is like cultivating the ground.
If we work hard at the ground it will likely bring forth a good yield.
If we do nothing, it yields nothing.
We need to work at cultivating a deep relationship with Christ.
Sadly, there will be those who, “Instead of cultivating a deep and intimate relationship with Christ” will instead “ignore Him, falling victim to the culture and turning to empty worldly pursuits” (MacArthur 6).
These will be conformed to the world and not Christ.
This entails seeking wealth over Christ, desire, power, being the best above all others.
We seek the world over God.
We want our pleasure to come from the world and all it offers.
This is not healthy or good.
It is from this why Paul said that sanctification is God’s will for us and that to remain pure from sexual immorality and impure passions.
We need to have...
Purity: Walk Away From Sinful Impurities (vv.
3b-8)
As set apart people, we must live out this will of God.
We do this by abstaining from sexual immorality.
We control ourselves in all manner of life.
As Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:7 we have a spirit of power and self-control.
By trusting in the Spirit of God we abstain from all these improper actions and sexual desires.
Abstain means to hold oneself off of.
We do this through the self-control the Spirit gives us.
Sexual immorality was a massive problem in the pagan culture surrounding Thessalonica.
There were multiple and various sex gods and practices that involved sexual acts as worship.
It was quite terrible.
Much like today.
We have abortion for all.
This is a sacrifice to the god of sex and self.
We have pornography abounding all over.
It seems that we are just as bad now if not worse than the pagan culture of the past.
It is prevalent and inescapable.
We cannot go a day without seeing some form of sexual immorality.
It is predominant and very oppressive today.
What do we do.
Paul has written elsewhere that we are to flee from all sexual immorality and youthful passions (1 Cor.
6:18; 2 Tim.
2:22).
We have another example from the OT: Joseph.
He was in Pharaoh's house serving him.
Pharaoh’s wife kept making advances.
Until one day she just blatantly came onto Joseph and tried to drag him into bed with her.
He fled leaving his cloak behind because she would not release it (Gen.
39:6-12).
He ran away and would not sin.
He said that to lay with her would be a sin and wickedness and then he made a great statement as a question, “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen.
39:9).
It is wickedness against God to act in a manner that is not fitting to Him.
Sexual activities that are not within the covenant bond of marriage amongst a husband and a wife, male and female, is wickedness and sin against God.
Even though this section is explicitly stating sexual sin, it can go for any impurity.
It does not matter what it is, if it is not glorifying to God, we should flee from it, walk away from it.
When we do this we are living out God’s will.
We are because we are:
Being contrasted with the world.
(5)
Sexual purity is a key marker of believers from the world.
Not defrauding or cheating others.
(6a).
Immorality defrauds and cheats others because transgress means to go beyond, to cross a line.
This is to trespass.
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