This is a part of a sermon series in the book of 1 Thessalonians. You can watch more here.
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I don’t want to get you too excited but our passage this morning is talking about sex. I know we have little ones here this morning but God’s Word talks about sex, and honestly, it’s never too early to talk to our children about sex.
Personally, I don’t like to talk about these types of things, but this is why we teach verse by verse through God’s Word. We go through God’s Word so that we might see what it looks like practically to turn from the idols of this world and turn to the living and true God, including areas sexuality. Let’s look at verses 1-2:
1 Thessalonians 4:1-2, “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. 2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians in the New Testament. 1 Thessalonians is written by the Apostle Paul, and up to this point the Apostle Paul has been affirming and encouraging the Thessalonian church, but in chapter 4 we start a see a transition in the tone of the letter. Do you see the transition in verse 1?
First, the Apostle Paul uses the phrase “finally” which is funny, because there’s still another chapter. But more importantly we see the phrase “excel still more.” Do you see that in verse 1?
The Apostle Paul is encouraged by the Thessalonian church. Remember chapter 1, “The Thessalonians are an example to all.” The Apostle Paul says, “I have no need to say anything, because their lives of turning from idols to serve the living and true God have echoed out to the surrounding cities.” Those are all positives!
Even in chapter 4 the Apostle Paul is still referring to the Thessalonians with relational language like “brethren or brothers and sisters” but in verse 1 the Apostle Paul is going to press into their “walk” or “how they ought to walk” because the Apostle Paul is wanting to see them not settle for mediocrity in their spiritual lives. Do you see that in verse 1?
The word “walk” is talking about their daily habits like their relationships with one another. The health of their marriages. Their love for God’s Word. Their desire to turn from sin in every area of their life, so the Apostle Paul writes, “You received instruction on how you ought to live out your faith in Jesus” and at the same time “excel still more!”
This is interesting for us to consider because there are some personalities in this room that love to be challenged. You loved it when coaches said things to you like, “You call that a tackle? My grandmother can move her feet faster than you!” There are some of us who love when the boss is hard on them. There are some of us that appreciated the parent who was always challenging them to get better.
But there are also some of us that wilt at that type of approach, so that when the Apostle Paul writes, “excel still more” it can be deflating for some of us, so what does it look like practically to “excel still more.”
This is important, because we don’t naturally drift toward the holiness of God. Have you notice that? Our careers don’t typically drift toward greatness. We have to work at our careers.
Marriages don’t typically drift toward intimacy. We have to work at our marriages. Our physical health doesn’t typically drift toward making healthy decisions. We have to work at healthy decisions.
Therefore, just like the flow of the letter to the Thessalonians, we want to encourage, affirm and celebrate. Absolutely! And, at the same time, because of the goodness of His glory we want to look at our lives in such a way that we “excel still more.”
We want that mindset toward our character as followers of Jesus. We want that mindset in our marriages. We want that spiritual temperature in our church in Austin. We want to “excel still more” in all areas of life. Amen?
And there’s a part of me that wants to move to the next verse, but this is such an important phrase in our passage that I don’t want to move too quickly past this phrase “excel still more” because when I was in my 20’s I would have loved that phrase “excel still more.”
You can put that phrase on a t-shirt. Definitely one of those inspirational posters. In my 20’s I would have put that phrase as a signature at the end of an email. Pastor Michael, “Excel still more!” 1 Thess. 4. It’s awesome isn’t it? It rolls off the tongue!
But in your 20’s your still optimistic about life! In your 20’s you actually believe you are going to “excel still more.” But then you go through the ups and downs of life and you realize “inspirational phrases” aren’t going to be enough. There’s going to be some moments in your marriage when you get discouraged. There are going to be moments in your career when you don’t accomplish everything you want.
I remember when I started to realize that I wasn’t able to retain everything I read. I remember when I started to realize, “Maybe I am not as great as I thought I was!” It was devastating!
When I saw character flaws in my 20’s I would tell myself, “Those won’t be around much longer!” I am a new creation in Christ. The old things have passed away, new things have come! But then I got into my 30’s and 40’s and now 50’s and some of those character flaws keep showing up!
It’s possible you are in your 20’s and you still think life is going to magically get better, so I don’t want to ruin that for you this morning, but sometimes as we get older we can feel like we hit a wall in our spiritual life.
Sometimes we can feel like we are stuck spiritually, or plateau spiritually, and it’s in those places where we start to lose optimism. We start to lose hope. We start to find ourselves saying, “This is good enough.”
This understanding of God’s Word is “good enough.” This level of prayer in my life is “good enough.” This quality of my marriage it’s not great, but it’s “good enough.” These spiritual conversations with people who are far from Jesus are good enough.
So that when we find ourselves in that place in life we need to remember the holiness of God lived out in our lives matters. Our daily walk with Jesus matters. The quality of our lives in Christ matters. We can’t forget that! And, at the same time, we need to remember the charge to “excel still more” can only take place through the gospel. Does that make sense?
It is Jesus who takes our sin at the cross. It is Jesus who gives us His righteousness, so that we aren’t “excelling still more” in our righteousness, but in His righteousness freely given by grace through faith in Jesus.” Amen?
In our culture right now, it is very popular to virtue signal about how I am more righteous than the next person. Republicans and Democrats love to virtue signal! Look at how great I am and look at horrible the other side is.
But the gospel is that we are all sinners who have been made righteous through faith in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, therefore, all of us in Christ are continually being invited to “excel still more.” Not in our righteousness, but in His. Amen?
Yes, there might be seasons of up and down. There might be seasons where we are close to Jesus or distant from Jesus, but the call on our life to “excel still more” is always coming from a place of embracing what we have already been given in Christ. Therefore, it is with the gospel in mind that we can read our next verse. Look at verse 3:
1 Thessalonians 4:3, “3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality.”
We are going to break down that verse, but I just think it is interesting, for all the things the Apostle Paul could talk to the Thessalonians about, he wants to talk to them about their understanding of biblical sexuality. That’s significant!
Marriage is a gift from the Lord. Sex is a gift from the Lord, so that we need to see of all the things the Apostle Paul wanted to talk about it was an understanding of biblical sexuality. Remember these are men and women who didn’t grow up around God’s Word. They didn’t grow up learning about a biblical view of sexuality.
It would have been normal for the Thessalonians to have multiple sexual partners. It would have been socially acceptable to go to temple prostitutes like a topless bar or a gentlemen’s club of our day. It would have been normal to be sexually active with people who worked in their businesses or lived on their property.
Sometimes we hear people today talk about sexual freedom like the idea of “sexual freedom” is advanced, educated or enlightened, but the idea of people just having sex with anyone and everyone is the pattern throughout ancient history.
Therefore, when the Holy Spirit shows up in Thessalonica and these men and women come to faith in Jesus, they started to turn from the sexual patterns of their day and turn to the true and living God.
In verse 3 the Apostle Paul uses the word “sanctification” and it’s a word that means to be “set apart unto the Lord.” It’s as though God’s Word is saying, “In Christ, you are set apart for a different purpose, including our sexual lives.”
It’s like taking a spatula in a kitchen and trying to use it as a ladle. You can use a spatula as a ladle. It’s just really hard. The spatula has a specific purpose and the ladle has a specific purpose, and it’s as if God’s Word is saying, “In Christ, you these body parts and these desires, but they were made for a different purpose than how you are using them.”
In verse 3 we see the Apostle Paul zero in on this word “immorality” and in the original language it is the Greek word “porneia” and the word “porneia” simply means any sexual stimulation visual, virtual, verbal, emotional or physical that isn’t between husband and wife in marriage.
This all comes from Genesis 2. The gift of sex was created to take place in marriage. The gift of marriage was established in Genesis 2 when husband and wife are brought together in marriage, so when we dabble in videos, literature, tv shows, texts, sex before marriage, outside of marriage, or same sex relationship we are using body parts and desires in a way He never intended.
It’s as though a cruise ship is on its side, and all of humanity has been going through life on a cruise ship on its side, thinking it’s normal to walk on walls, step over the doors, step through windows until Jesus comes and sets that cruise ship upright, so that we start to see, “Oh, so this is how sexuality is supposed to work!” Does that make sense?
Listen to me, I want to be gentle here, because every person in this room has fallen short of what God intended for our bodies sexually.
Every person has fallen short in thought, word or deed, so that as all of us are hearing the weight of these words, we need to remember the warmth of our passage.
The Apostle Paul didn’t start 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 1 with “abstain from sexual immorality.” The letter starts off with affection, encouragement, grace and peace in Christ Jesus our Lord, and then chapter 4, “abstain from sexual immorality.”
It’s the gospel that reminds us we have been washed in Christ. We have been made pure in Christ. We are clothed in His righteousness, so that His Word isn’t to bring shame but instead to lift our eyes to all that we have been given in Christ. Amen? Let’s look at verses 4-6:
1 Thessalonians 4:4-6, “4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 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.”
The word “vessel” in verse 4 is referring to our physical bodies and verse 4 is giving us a challenge to take responsibility of what our bodies feel and desire. Do you see the contrast in verse 4? Let us not use our bodies in “lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God” but as men and women who have been reconciled in Christ! What a great challenge for us today in the subject of sexuality!
First, do we see the challenge isn’t just for certain people in the Thessalonian church but for “each one of you.” Do you see that in verse 4? This is a challenge for all who are in Christ! A challenge for us to consider the holiness of God when we think our sexual desires. A challenge for us to consider those decisions when we meet with co-workers for a dinner.
A challenge when we gather with friends to celebrate a birthday. A challenge when we travel to another city. A challenge when we click on something to watch, or click on that link on our phone.
Each of us would do well to ask ourselves, “Is my view of sexuality being shaped by our culture, feelings, opinions or by the power of God’s Word to “excel still more?” Are we becoming too casual with what we watch in shows or movies? Are we just making excuses for what we click online? Are we willing to share with one another where we are weak when it comes to our sexual desires that are of not of the Lord, but of this world?
I am not under the impression we all live in a sterile room with blank walls. I am in this battle with you. We work, live, eat, breathe in a culture that is incredibly sexually charged. Therefore, it would be easy for us to make excuses and tell ourselves, “Well, at least I am not doing this or that or watching this or that” and God’s Word would celebrate His work in us in those areas and at the same time God’s Word says, “Excel still more” not in our righteousness but in the righteousness, we have been given in Christ!
This is so important, because our culture tells us to explore every feeling and every sexual desire. Our culture tells us that God’s Word is just trying to hold us back from being true self, but deep down every human being knows we can’t do things with our body and it not affect us as people.
Deep down we know we can’t say to someone, “I am committed to you for these sexual feelings, but I want nothing to do with you emotionally, economically, socially, or spiritually” and that not affect us in a negative way.
This is why the Apostle Paul writes in verse 6, “Let us not transgress and defraud our brother or sister in this matter” because when we do those things we are hurting ourselves and we are hurting one another, and then wondering, “Why do we have so relational problems?”
It’s because we have been trying to use a spatula as a ladle and we keep splattering things everywhere, and it’s like God’s Word is saying, “There’s a better way!” It’s why Jesus came to take on flesh. It’s why Jesus gives us His body and His blood at the cross, so that He might calls us His.
He calls out to all who believe in Him, so that we might be made clean and clothed in His righteousness and enjoy the lives He intended us to live from the very beginning. Look at verses 7-8:
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8, “7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. 8 So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.”
I love how verse 8 acknowledges the reality for every person to “reject” what God wants for us, and this is true for the person who has faith in Jesus and the person who doesn’t have faith in Jesus.
Every day, every person is making a decision to receive God’s Word by faith and trust Him, follow Him or reject God’s Word by faith and trust in ourselves, so that verse 8 captures the weight of what we are talking about this morning, “Are we going to trust in ourselves or are we going to trust in the Lord?”
Listen to me, I know this is a difficult subject. It’s possible that some of us want to push back on these words. It’s possible that some of us have fallen short in this area, and maybe we are thinking, “I’ve already messed up. Maybe it’s too late?”
You need to know it’s never too late. You need to know He loves stories of forgiveness. He loves stories of reconciliation. He loves washing us and making us pure. He loves it! He sees us feasting on what this world has to offer, He knows this world will let us down, and His heart is continually calling out to us, “Won’t you trust Me?” Won’t you turn from the idols of this world and turn to Me?
I see this in my life in so many ways. I hear the shame whispering into my ears, and it’s like the Holy Spirit is calling out to my soul, “Oh, Michael, won’t you trust me? I have so much for you? Won’t you trust me?”
Men, as husbands, we need you to lead out in this area. As a husband, you have been put in that role to spiritually lead out in this conversation. Don’t put this weight on your wife. Don’t put this conversation on your wife. Don’t wait for her to bring it up. Look to the righteousness you have been given in Christ and say to your wife, “Let’s talk about how we honor the gift of sex in our marriage!”
Of all the things the Apostle Paul could talk about, he made this subject a priority, therefore, let us do the same in our lives and in our marriages, so the Lord might bring healing and hope into our lives as we “excel still more!”
North Village Church
This sermon is brought to you by North Village Church, a non-denominational church in Austin. established in 2009 and built around Jesus and Bible teaching.
Are you looking for a church in Austin? At North Village Church we put Jesus at the center of our church family. We worship together every Sunday at 10:30am, encourage Christ centered fellowship through groups, and host special events such as Bible studies and Theological Training, to ensure that we are rooted in in God’s Word. We also serve our local community in association with several Austin based organizations.
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