GOD’S WILL—OUR SANCTIFICATION
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on August 22, 2018 under PM Bible Study |
PM Bible Study Group; August 22, 2018 – from 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Theme: As part of our walk in Christ, we must be sanctified in the area of sexuality.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
We have been enjoying the first half of Paul’s wonderful letter to the Thessalonians. In it, we have seen how Paul and his co-laborers (Silvanus and Timothy) delighted in the remarkable manner in which the Thessalonians received the message of the gospel. They had truly allowed the Lord Jesus to transform their lives; and that transformation became well-known to others in the surrounding regions. As Paul puts it in 1:9-10:
For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
Paul’s delight in their salvation has been the theme of the first half of this letter. And this is an important thing to remember as we begin to study the second half of the letter. Paul’s delight in Chapters 1-3 affirms to us that his instructions in Chapters 4-5 are being given to those who are genuinely redeemed believers.
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To hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to place one’s faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, and to become washed clean in the sight of God—these things are really only the beginning of a process in the life of a genuine Christian. It is true that we now stand 100% accepted in the sight of God through Christ; but there is still a long process ahead of bringing our lives into conformity with that spiritual reality. Theologians refer to this process as ‘sanctification’.
To ‘sanctify’ something means to ‘set it apart’. In the original language of the New Testament, the word used for “sanctification” is hagiasmos; which means the ‘setting apart’ or ‘consecrating’ or ‘dedicating’ of a thing or a person from all the rest and unto God’s use. It is related to the Greek word for the adjective “holy” (hagios). In the Bible, when someone is referred to as a “saint”, the word used is a participial form of hagiazo; which means “a ‘set-apart’ one”. Sanctification, then, is the process or act of setting a believer apart unto God.
There are a few different ways to understand ‘sanctification’ in the life of a believer. First is what we might call positional sanctification. This speaks of the fact that, once we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we are immediately set apart in God’s sight from the common things of this world; and that, when God now looks upon us in Christ, He sees us in Christ’s perfect holiness and as belonging to Him. There is also the idea of what we might call perfect sanctification. This would speak of the reality that we can expect when we are finally glorified in Christ on the day of His return—when we are made fully into His image; and when there will no longer be any spot or wrinkle or blemish on us, but that we will completely share in His perfect holiness forever. But a third way to understand this matter is what we might call practical sanctification (or what some theologians call ‘progressive sanctification’). This speaks of the fact that every day—in an ongoing way—the old sinful habits and practices of life are being put away from us; and by the help of the Holy Spirit, we are growing increasingly to live like Jesus in daily life and practice; putting off the old man, and putting on the man made new in Christ.
Our positional sanctification became secured for us—once and for all time—when we believed on Jesus. And our perfect salvation is what we look ahead to on the day of Jesus’ return. But right now—in and ongoing and ever-increasing way—we are experiencing practical sanctification as a result of our being in Christ. And it is that ‘practical’ or ‘progressive’ aspect of sanctification that is the subject of much of the later half of Paul’s letter. The Thessalonian believers had already been redeemed and where fully Christ’s people. But there was still much in their lives that needed to be brought into conformity with their new identity. One of those areas—the first that Paul addresses—is their sexual purity.
The Thessalonians lived in a culture that was saturated with all kinds of different forms of sexual immorality. Sadly, many of those old immoral habits and patterns still remained in their lives after having come to Christ. Those practices were no longer consistent with who they now were; and as such, they must be put away from them. But it is very important to notice that Paul does not tell them to clean up their sexual lives first before they can come to Christ. Rather now—having come to Christ and having been given a completely new identity in Him—it’s time to clean-up their sexual act. Their practical sanctification in the matter of sexuality came after their positional sanctification had been established—and it looked ahead in the future to their perfect sanctification as a motivating principle.
What an important pattern for us to follow!—and for helping others in Christ to also follow!
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Note first, then …
I. THE GENERAL CALL TO A HOLY LIFE (vv. 1-2).
Paul lets us know in his letter that he is now entering a new section—a section of practical instruction—when he writes the words “Finally then, brethren …” This is how 4:1 begins; and it does not necessarily mean that it is the last thing that Paul is going to say. Rather, it means that he is now addressing the kind of things that the previous section was leading up to. And what is it that the previous section was leading up to? He goes on, “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 …”
If you read through Paul’s letters, you find that this is a pattern in many of them. His letters can easily be divided up into two main sections. First there is a ‘doctrinal’ section, and then there is a ‘duty’ section. In the first section, he lays out the theological realities of the Christian faith; and then, after setting these theological realities out, he lays out—in the second section—the practical implications of these theological realities for daily living. And he almost always follows that pattern: first comes doctrine, then comes duty. First comes matters of faith, then comes matters of practice. First comes right ‘believing’, then comes right ‘living’. (And by the way—don’t ever listen to people who say, “It doesn’t matter what you believe—only what you do.” That is an utterly unbiblical idea; because what we ‘do’ always springs forth from what we ‘believe’. We must get our thinking in accord with the truth first; and then, our conduct will be built on a solid foundation of faith.)
So then; Paul begins by urging and exhorting the saints in Thessalonica to ‘abound more and more’—that is, to grow increasingly in ‘practical’ or ‘progressive’ sanctification—with regard to the ways that he and Silvanus and Timothy had taught them that they “ought to walk and to please God”. It is only in the Lord that they would be able to grow in their sanctification. In verse two, he reminds them of the brief time that he and the other missionaries were with them; and tells them, “for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”
And note that this was not something that he was asking them to do in their own power or through their own resources. We can never grow in the Christian life by means of our own power. Twice in these two verses, he reminds them that he is urging and exhorting them “in the Lord”; and telling them of the commandments they received “through the Lord Jesus”. We must always remember that true life-transformation comes about only in and through and by the Lord Jesus. We are utterly reliant upon Him—not only for our sanctification in a positional sense; and not only in our sanctification in an final sense—but also in our sanctification in an on-going, day-by-day, progressive, practical sense. We are dependent upon Him for everything!
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So then; he establishes to them that he is seeking to call them toward increasing sanctification in Christ. That is his general call to them. But that leads us, then, to …
II. THE SPECIFIC APPEAL TO SEXUAL PURITY (vv. 3-8).
If you look carefully at false teaching and cults (and please be very careful if you ever do!), you will find that—very often—sexual immorality plays a big role in it all. False teaching almost always degenerates into sexual immorality. Peter gave this warning about the false teachers of his day;
For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error (2 Peter 2:18).
Spiritual error often reveals itself by the fact that it leads its devotees into the kinds of sexual sins that God has forbidden in His commandments. And so by contrast—when someone truly comes to Christ—they increasingly leave sexual sins behind and grow to walk in obedience to God’s commands regarding sexual practices. They grow increasingly to walk in purity. This may explain why Paul stressed sexual purity first in his instructions to the Thessalonians. It is strategic to a faithful walk with Christ.
The first thing that Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about this concerns God’s expressed will for our sanctification in sexual matters. In verse 3, he writes, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality …” Note that Paul declares that “this is God’s will”. People often express that they want to know God’s will for their lives. And if this is so, then every time the Bible says “this is God’s will”, they should do what they are told God’s will actually is! 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us, for example, “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Peter 2:15 says, “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” And so also here, we’re being given another clear statement of what God’s will for us is—our sanctification in the area of sexual matters.
We are told to abstain from “sexual immorality”; and that phrase is the translation of one word in the original language: porneia. It’s the word from which we get the word “pornography”. But it doesn’t refer just to pornography. It refers, in a broad sense, to any and every kind of sexual immorality. God our Creator—as is shown to us in just the first few pages of the Bible—has designed our sexuality to be expressed in one context only; and that is lifelong, human heterosexual monogamy. Anything that crosses beyond that boundary, or that dishonors it and seeks to alter it, constitutes sexual immorality. And so, the abstinence of anything outside that-God given boundary is God’s will for the believer.
Next, notice how Paul speaks of our personal duty to posses our own body in sanctification. He explains in verse 4 that an abstinence from sexual immorality means “that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor …” Our “vessel” speaks of our own body; and we are to “possess” our own “vessel”—or bring it under control—as that which is sanctified unto God and which belongs to Him.
Our bodies are not, in an absolute sense, our own to do with as we please. It’s true that we may eat what we want, or wear what we want, or go where we want in these bodies. But they are not ultimately ours; and we must keep them in a way that is in accord with God’s expressed will. This is particularly true with respect to our sexual practices. Paul addressed this matter in 1 Corinthians 6. The Corinthians were also following the patterns of the culture around them; and he wrote and told them;
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For “the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s (1 Corinthians 6:15-20).
The world around us holds to the idea that our bodies are our own, and that we may do whatever pleases us with them sexually. But as a sanctified people, we are not to follow the patterns of this world. We are to see our bodies as belonging to God through Christ; and we are to possess our ‘vessel’ in sanctification and honor as good stewards of that which belongs to Him; “not”, as Paul says in verse 5, “in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God.”
Our own vessel should not be our only concern, however. Paul goes on in verse 6 to speak of our duty toward our fellow believer in this matter. He writes a further word of instruction: “that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter …” The wording that Paul uses may be interpreted in a general sense—that is, that a believer should never “take advantage of” or “defraud” (that is, get the better of) a fellow believer. But Paul’s way of putting this is rather specific; and that specificity may be intended. He uses the the male genders for both words in the phrase “his brother”; and he may be addressing a problem of homosexual practice within the Thessalonian church—something that may have been a ‘left-over’ practice from their former days before they came to Christ. This may even be further supported by the fact that, in verse 9, he begins to say, “But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you …”; as if he went on to talk about true brotherly love against the backdrop of something that was a false version.
The follower of Jesus must never cause another believer to stumble in this area—whether it is in a homosexual manner, or a heterosexual sin, or any other kind of sexual impurity. To ‘take advantage of’ someone in this manner, or to ‘defraud’ them in some way, is to harm a fellow believer in Christ. It is something that, in the process of our sanctification in Christ, is to be put away. Paul warns in verse 6 of the seriousness of this; “because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.”
And finally, notice that Paul closes this discussion of sanctification in sexual purity by speaking of our consistency with God’s calling upon our lives. We must always live in a manner that is consistent with our positional sanctification in Christ. He writes in verses 7-8, “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” To live in a state of habitual sexual immorality is to live in a way that is diametrically opposed to the call of God upon our lives—which calling looks ahead toward our ultimate purity in Christ in our perfect sanctification in glory. As the apostle John put it;
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:1-3).
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So then; we have been sanctified in Christ. We now belong to God. When we first believed on Jesus, God set us apart forever as His own precious people. Positionally, we are sanctified. And what’s more, we walk on this earth today as those who are destined to be conformed fully to the image of Jesus’ glory on the day when He returns for us. Our outlook is to be perfectly and fully sanctified in glory.
And if these things are true, then God’s call for us right now is to live like what we are in all areas of life—including the sexual area. We are to be growing ongoingly and progressively in sexual purity: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification …”
EA
