God Promises Holiness

Introduction

A. Happy Father’s Day. Unlike Mother’s Day, this celebration did not receive national endorsement for some time. Mother’s Day received a national proclamation in 1914 after having been celebrated in local municipalities for almost a decade. On the other hand, Father’s Day began to be celebrated in Spokane, Washington for a few years in the early part of the 20th century but did not receive a national proclamation until 1966. Why did it take so long? Those wanting a national proclamation were trade and merchant groups and the nation saw it as an attempt to receive financial gain for honoring dads. So Happy Father’s Day to those dads who have raised or are raising children and to those dads who raised us and to those who tried to be father figures to those who were without fathers.

B. We continue to look at God’s promises found in scripture. We are not looking at every promise but those promises we do find encourage us to walk boldly and confidently in this world because God keeps all of his promises. He cannot do otherwise. He is truth and light. There is not a hint of deception in him. So when he tells us he will do something, we can trust him to do what he promises. We have thus far looked at several promises — God promises to never abandon us. God promises to take all the circumstances and events of life and use them for our good. God promises to forgive us. God promises peace. God promises escape. Today we are going to look at 1 Thessalonians 4 — God promises holiness. God promises that he will give to you what you need to be what he wants you to be — to be a reflection of light and hope in this world.

Situation

A. Paul spent only a few weeks in Thessalonica. He intended to stay longer but opposition was so strong that he had to leave the city. Forced from the city, Paul was concerned about the spiritual development of those who had become followers of Jesus. So Paul writes two letters to these believers to encourage them and to emphasize some teaching that had either been given or had not been fully explained before he left. Like most ancient cities, people lived their lives without knowing the one true God. Religious practices surrounded various Roman or Greek gods and life was lived seeking personal satisfaction. It was common for people especially the wealthy to marry and for the man especially to have a mistress. Discretion was expected, but such behavior was common practice. It is with this socially accepted practice in mind that Paul writes chapter 4 of 1 Thessalonians.

B. God’s will for his children is sanctification — a big word which means that God wants holiness for his children. Sanctification is a word that describes a process. The day will come when we will be fully sanctified but until that day we engage in a process. God wants us more and more to use our lives and our bodies to reflect him. Sexual immorality demonstrates that holiness is not at the forefront of a believer’s mind. The phrase sexual immorality includes any form of sexual behavior which isn’t part of God’s design. From pornography to any sexual activity which is not between husband and wife is included in the idea of sexual immorality.

C. Paul says that the believer should control his body in holiness and honor. The body is to demonstrate God’s desire for sanctification but it is the idea of honor which is interesting. The word carries the meaning of value, worth, reverence, and that which has a price attached to it. In other words, the believer is to control his body because his body is of great value and worth — not just the body the person. Paul goes on in verse 6 to write that sexual immorality defrauds or cheats your fellow man. To engage in sexual activity with someone who isn’t your husband or wife is to act unjustly or to take advantage of another person. Sexual union with a husband and wife is exclusive. Sexual activity with someone who isn’t your husband or wife, even if that person isn’t married yet, acts unjustly toward the person who will one day marry that man or woman. At the very least, God is defrauded by using your body in ways that he did not intend for you to use it.

D. Paul summarizes in verse 7 that God has called us to sanctification. We have been called to live holy lives. This restatement of verse 3 is more than a restatement. It is a reminder that these new believers have received a direction of life that is quite different from the world in which they live. And in the same way, we have received a call to live differently than the world around us and this difference is seen in many ways but none more visible than sexual purity. Holy lives are lives lived in recognition that God is to be first in our lives — not our selfish desires.

Holy Lives

A. In self-report surveys, about 60% of all high school seniors will have engaged in non-marital sexual activity by the time they graduate from high school. By the mid-20s that number rises to more than 85% admit to having sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage between husband and wife. But this is not new. Every generation has dealt with sexual immorality and as we have seen such existed in the Greco-Roman world during the 1st century. This does not change the desire of God. God wants us as his children to live holy lives. He wants us to join with him in the process of being holy.

B. Paul in verse 8 demonstrates the promise of God in regards to holiness. Paul writes that those who reject this teaching are not rejecting a man they are rejecting God who has a claim on your life. Paul goes on to write that seeking sexual immorality is to demonstrate your preference for self over receiving the Holy Spirit. Paul places this in the present tense which means that the giving of the Holy Spirit is taking place even as the choice is presented to you. Live a holy life or live a life of sexual immorality. Choose God’s direction or my own pleasure. Prefer the unholy or the holy.

C. God’s will is for you to be holy not unholy. God’s desire is for you to understand your value and worth to him. God wants you to give your life to the process of sanctification becoming a holy person set apart to demonstrate and reflect a holy God. This is God’s will for you. But where is the promise? It is in verse 8 and it is found in the expression “Holy Spirit.” We read that phrase just as if this “name” means little. Similar to saying “Jesus Christ” as if Jesus is the first name and Christ is the last name without recognizing the significance. The same with Holy Spirit. By placing the word “holy” after “Spirit” Paul is emphasizing something about God’s Spirit.

D. God’s will is for you to live holy lives. And to assist with that will, God gives his Holy Spirit to you. This is the promise. God so much wants you to be holy that he gives to you his Spirit who is in his nature and character and holy. God says “This is my will for you — holiness and to help you carry out my will I will give to you and continue to give to you my Spirit who is by his very nature holy.” What does the promise mean? It means that we are not left to our own strength to be holy. It means that God will empower us by his own Spirit to bring about holiness in our lives.

E. Let’s get practical.

i. Sitting down at a computer, God's Spirit lives in you so that you can say "no" to pornography and "yes" to being holy.

ii. Feeling lonely and isolated means that you can say "yes" to living a holy life rather than seeking a short-term fix to your loneliness.

iii. Being ignored by your husband or wife and feeling emotionally or sexually deprived you can say "yes" to being a demonstration of holiness in your with others by not pursuing another person who can relieve this deprivation for you.

iv. And all of this is possible not by your own power but by the power of God through his Spirit who is by his very nature holy. God wants holiness in your life and he gives you the power to be holy through his Spirit. Then we choose whether to live by the Spirit or to live by our desires.

F. This lesson is about holiness and that God promises to help us with following his will. Will you choose him? As Paul says in verse 7, this is not a rejection of man but of God. Choose God. Choose to be a part of the process of sanctification. Choose God’s gift of the Spirit. Choose holiness. Invitation.

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