1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 says...

Today's verses are 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, which read,

v.1, 2 - Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.  For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

Here are the points to write down on the sheet that Paul gave you with this letter.  Fill in these blanks by the 1, 2, and 3 or the bullet points provided.  This teaching is being relayed to them through Paul but it is from the Lord Jesus.  These are going to be real life action points, the application part of the sermon.  The Bible says....

v.3-6 - For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.

How do you live out your life so it shows that you are following God's will?  Area #1 is abstaining sexual immorality (write that down on the line provided on the sermon outline sheet).  The Gentiles (the non Christians) do not abstain from sexual immorality.  You are to live differently than them. 

What is sexual immorality?  A definition from www.gotquestions.org is "In the New Testament, the word most often translated 'sexual immorality' is porneia. This word is also translated as 'whoredom,' 'fornication,' and 'idolatry.' It means 'a surrendering of sexual purity', and it is primarily used of premarital sexual relations. From this Greek word we get the English word pornography, stemming from the concept of 'selling off.' Sexual immorality is the 'selling off' of sexual purity and involves any type of sexual expression outside the boundaries of a biblically defined marriage relationship (Matthew 19:4–5)."

This is very relevant with what our Supreme Court is looking at.  There is a movement to redefine marriage and it might happen but that will only be on our country's level.  It will not change what the Bible says on this issue and how the Christian, the person in the Lord Jesus, is to live.  What our country is looking at will have spiritual consequences.  It will be make the phrase said at the end of many speeches, "...and God bless America..." just a phrase said with no indication of following what God has actually said.

v.7, 8 - For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.  So he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

God called us.  He invited us to follow Him, to live a life patterned after Him.  So when we go against this command to abstain from sexual immorality, we are not just rejecting man's wisdom but God's direct instruction.  We are rejecting the God who gave His one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins.  We are rejecting the God who gave us the Holy Spirit to live within us to remind and guide us in the truth.  We are rejecting His written word, the Bible, given to us that is very clear on this matter.  Did man, who we are following on this matter when we participate in sexual immorality, do any of this for us?  The obvious answer is "no."

"Lord, thank You for the non-debatable issues in the Scripture even though they are sometimes very hard to follow.  Thank You that you give us clear instruction to stand upon when the world around us going in the totally opposite direction.  Thank You for going beyond just the instruction to a life that showed ultimate sacrifice to what You were saying.  Amen."

Pastor Adam
A simple man serving a great God and the local pastor of Stillwater Community Chapel (stillwater-chapel.org). We are in our 38th year of full time ministry. God directed us to this local body of believers on the Western Range of the Rockies to grow with them in mission and mindedness of Christ.

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