Christian teaching

Series: Paul to the Thessalonians

We are back to our series on Paul to the Thessalonians. We learned already in chapters 1-3 about how thankful Paul is for their faith; how he ministered to them with integrity; and how he deeply loves them and misses them, having been forced to leave them. Today in chapter 4:1-8 he moves into a new section of the letter where he begins to remind them and instruct them in the faith, as he said in 3:10, to “supply what is lacking in your faith.” And today the topic is holy sex.

I want to share –

Two points upfront

 – about this passage that will help us make sense of it. 1. There is a holiness theme here. It begins in the prayer in chapter 3, that the Lord “establish your hearts blameless in holiness” (3:13). And counting this prayer, there are 6 mentions of holiness or a lack of it in 9 verses:

• 4:3 – sanctification, a different English word for the same Greek root word that means holy
• 4:4 – holiness
• 4:7 – impurity – the opposite of holiness
• 4:7 – holiness
• 4:8 – “Holy” Spirit

What does it mean to be holy? It means “to be set apart.” God is holy in that he is set apart as unique, different and better than us. God is in a class all by himself. We are set apart as unique, different or special when we are like God in character and walk in God’s ways. As opposed to the world around us with its practices, we are a peculiar people.

2. Paul’s “vessel” metaphor. Literally v.4 says, “that each one of you know how to possess his own vessel in holiness and honor.” The two key words are underlined and they can be interpreted in different ways. “Possess” can be interpreted as acquire or control. “Vessel” can be interpreted as wife or one’s own body. So it either means acquire a wife, or control your own body.

The latter is the best option. I won’t go into all the reasons. [We shouldn’t assume Paul is only talking to men here. “Brother” means both men and women when addressing the whole church. The masculine pronouns are generic.] [Vessel is used for the human body in 2 Corinthians 4:7.] [Paul uses different phrases for “wife” elsewhere.] [1 Peter 3:7 doesn’t refer to a wife as a vessel, but refers to both the husband’s and the wife’s body].

But there’s an underlying idea here that is key. Paul is viewing the human body as a “vessel” – a cup, a jar or a container of the Holy Spirit. This comes out in v. 8 where Paul talks about God as the one “who gives his Holy Spirit (literally) into you.” This reflects the frequent idea that God pours the Spirit into us, like water, and thus we are filled with the Spirit. [The language of v. 8 is  connected to Ezekiel 37:14 LXX.] [The metaphor of the human body as a vessel filled with the Spirit was used by early Christians (Barnabas 7:3; Hermas Mandates 5:2).

Now we can look at our verses.

Pleasing God

“1Finally, then, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.”

Finally doesn’t mean the end. It means “now to the rest,” that is, to the teaching section of the letter. Paul is happy that they are living as they ought to and pleasing God. They have received the teaching he gave them. He just wants them to do so more and more.

But he also wants to address some issues that relate to Timothy’s report on how they are doing, and the first topic is

Holy sex

“3For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality”

Timothy’s report must have included an incident of sexual immorality. This was a very common element of Gentile life, sexual promiscuity of various kinds. Paul gives a clear statement here – God’s will for us is holiness, and this in the area of sex.

Sexual immorality or “Porneia” refers to any kind of forbidden sexual activity, for instance premarital sex, prostitution, adultery, homosexual practice, etc.. Anything outside of a proper marital union between a man and a woman.

We are to abstain from these things. Rather than sexual impurity we are to be sexually pure, that is, we are to live by God’s standards – by God’s unique and better way. [“Abstain from . . Porneia” is the same language used in the Apostolic Decree in Acts 15:29. Paul may well be quoting this here.]

“4that each one of you know how to control his/her own body in holiness and honor, 5not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God”

Notice the central contrast here: control your own body vs. giving vent to the passion of lust. Self-control is possible! Don’t let anyone tell you differently. It’s a fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5. We are not left alone but God helps us. God gives us the grace and power that we need to put to death the wrongful desires of the flesh and to live according to God’s will.

Paul also says, our sexual lives are to be characterized by holiness, that is, living by God’s standard, and honor or dignity, not degrading ourselves and others, or acting shamefully like those who don’t know God.

Next, Paul gets more specific.

“6that no one transgress and wrong his brother or sister in this matter . . .”

To transgress means to overstep a boundary. To wrong means to take advantage of, or exploit someone. So we are dealing here with a kind of sexual activity that wrongs someone else. Almost certainly Paul is referring to adultery. This is not only a sin against God, like all Porneia is, but it also wrongs and defrauds the person’s spouse of their rights (1 Corinthians 7:2-5), and destroys their family.

“. . . because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.”

God takes these sexual issues very seriously. Don’t be fooled. God sees everything you do and sexual sin will be judged by God (Hebrews 13:4). And those wronged by it will be avenged by God, who stands with the innocent in these matters.

Notice Paul says, “we solemnly warned you.” This is nothing to fool around with.

“7For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8Therefore whoever rejects this, rejects not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.”

Holy sex is not a mere human teaching; something someone made up, or just a cultural idea, or a relic from the past. This teaching comes from God. And so to reject or despise this teaching and to embrace sexual immorality is to reject and despise God (Luke 10:16). The very God who gives his “Holy” Spirit to you, or puts the Spirit into you.

The overall message here, when we put together the theme of holiness and the vessel metaphor is that we must be fit vessels for the Holy Spirit. And we do this by controlling our own bodies in holiness and honor. And when we don’t, this is an affront to God who is holy and the Holy Spirit within us. Would you pour what is most precious into a dirty glass? Into a filthy jar?

It really does matter what we do with our bodies since we are containers of the Holy Spirit. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:13/19, “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. . . . Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?”

Practicing holy sex

We hear a lot about practicing safe sex now a days, but certainly not about practicing holy sex, even from churches.

We live is a sex obsessed society. So many people make a god of sex. They elevate it to a wrongful place, thereby ruining a good gift of God and ruining themselves. They look to it for fulfillment and meaning. They give it ultimate value, instead of God who is the only one who can give us peace.

So they give free rein to the passion of lust, with only the barest of restrictions, like just don’t hurt others. But as Christians we are called to practice holy sex; to be unique and different in our sexual practices, in deference to God.

Why practice holy sex? Paul gives us a number of reasons.

1. It’s God’s will and we want to please God (v. 1). “For this is the will of God . . . that you abstain from sexual immorality” – v. 3. “For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness” – v. 7.

2. We don’t want to be judged. “The Lord is an avenger is all these things” – v. 6. And just as Paul told them in v. 6, “we solemnly warned you” about this, so I can say the same to you this morning. I have solemnly warned you all.

3. We don’t want to reject God. “Whoever rejects this, rejects . . . God” – v. 8.

4. We are to be a holy and fit container of the Spirit. We are to “control our own vessel/body” – v. 4, because God puts the Holy Spirit into us – v. 8.

5. It’s a witness to the world of a better way; to those who, as v. 5 says, “don’t know God.” It’s a witness to a life not lived by the passions of lust, or whatever we can get away with, but in self-control according to God’s will; God’s unique way. It’s a witness to a life not lived degrading ourselves sexually, but one that is holy and honorable. It’s a witness to a life that doesn’t look to the false god of sex, but to the true God who loves us and invites us all to find true fulfillment in him and in his ways.

William Higgins