“For this is God’s will: that you become holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality” 1 Thessalonians 4:3
God’s will for our lives is our “sanctification” and this involves that we abstain from sexual immorality. The word “sanctification” is misused in our times. It does not mean being “holy” in the sense of being completely perfect and canonized (declared a saint by a religious institution). Sanctification is a process in which our lives increasingly align with God’s truth or is more like the Lord Jesus Christ. He is a mirror of perfection that we must look at. God’s will is for us to be ever more holy, more like Jesus.
This concept is taken by Paul of the Old Testament. Certain utensils, such as a chandelier, were used in the temple. Once that chandelier was taken (after it was made) and put in the temple, it could not be used anywhere else. Its use was exclusively for the temple. It was holy or dedicated only to God.
When the Lord saved us, He freed us and brought us out of the vain and meaningless way of living. He washed and cleansed us with his blood and dedicated us to Him. After this, our lives are dedicated only to Him. The problem is that we have attitudes and behaviors that we did before that were part of our previous way of living. We must be stripped of them to be more holy or dedicated to the Lord.
There are certain areas in our lives, common to all, that cause more temptation to us and if we practice them, don’t help us please God. One very obvious to all of us is the area of sexuality. It’s perhaps the most prevalent in our culture. It is the one that dominates it. Everything and everyone in our world is affected by sexuality. It affects everyone regardless of age because people learned it since childhood from everything around them. Sexual immorality is an epidemic that infiltrates every aspect of our lives.
The Thessalonians (and even more cultures before) also lived in a culture where sexual immorality was normalized in many ways as we see it even today in our culture. It was part of religious worship of the gods. Many of the believers in Thessalonaica, especially men who had more “freedom,” had come out of this culture, but it was still a daily danger because it appealed to their sinful desires.
The word “fornication” is “porneia” and is broad terms in its meaning. Its meaning implies premarital, extramarital (adultery), pornography and any sexual expression or diversion that does not involve a man and a woman within the bounds of marriage.
The Lord’s command in this area is to abstain. The word “abstain” means in the original, “to stay away, to avoid”. They had to avoid using self-control. But it is clear to the believer that self-control is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). We cannot conquer our lustful desires and immorality with our efforts. It is not possible because we were born with a nature inclined to these desires.
The application for us is obvious. If you are a believer and you are practicing any of these immoral acts, the Lord commands you to stop doing so and abstain. This is not his will, nor does he approve it. Do not seek to rationalize it because there is no place for it in his will.
For the believer who has been taken out of the world of sin, God’s will is his concern. And the truth is that when God is taken out from people’s lives, God gives them over to their own desires which lead to all kinds of moral deviation according to Romans 1. This opens the door to all kinds of immorality like the one we’re seeing in the United States right now. There’s no limit.
This should not surprise us. William Barclay said, “The new morality is only the old updated”.
Sexual immorality is not a sexual problem but a spiritual one. This is why the Lord tells us to abstain because it does not help us in our process of sanctification or being like Christ. Today there are “Christians” who have come to rationalize certain acts that are flatly rejected as a sin in Scripture. Their lives do not please God as long as they practice them because it is not their will. These people live lives having been swept away by the sexual current of this world that has normalized and legalized immorality. The world applauds them for their “spiritual progressiveness.” But before God the command will never cease to resound,
“this is God’s will: that you become holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality”
