God Calls Us To Holiness

Alba 1-21-2024

GOD CALLS US TO HOLINESS

I Thessalonians 4:1-8

Little Rob Thomas was motivated more by recess than by any of his classes. For an hour one day, when he was in the second grade, Rob had avoided working on his math sheet. Then the teacher told him that every problem would have to be done before he could go out for recess.

Within two minutes he had written an answer for every problem. Unfortunately every answer was wrong, and the teacher sent the worksheet home for him to do over.

“You’ll have to do all these problems again,” his dad told him. “Why?” he asked. “They’’re all wrong,” his dad replied. “So?” he shrugged. “Nobody’s perfect.”

While his answer was flippant, it is true. None of us is perfect. And yet God calls us to holiness. That means that in spite of our tendency to be unholy, holiness is possible or else the Lord would not expect it of us.

Knowing that we have trouble in that area, the Lord has given us direction to help us understand what holiness looks like in various areas of our lives. That is why the apostle Paul wrote in I Thessalonians 4:1-8 these words: 1 "Finally then, brethren, 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; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified."

7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.

Note: The Lord did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness. And to be specific, this text calls us to holiness in sexual conduct. In fact it is clear from these verses that if we are going to walk in a way that is pleasing to God, this will be a priority.

Verse three tells us that it is God's will that we be sanctified. That means, set apart for God's purposes, not common worldly things, but for all things good.

To sanctify an object means to wash, cleanse, consecrate or set it aside for a special purpose. Sanctification is how God transforms a person, making him or her fit for a holy purpose. Sanctification includes a change of heart, a desire to love God and live among other people in a way that pleases God.

It doesn’t happen all at once. This means that Christians should expect to see changes in their lives, to grow and become more loving, kind, humble and self-controlled in their life. While there may be occasional setbacks and life-long struggles, God works with us to make His people holy.

Again, notice how verse three says that sanctification specifically includes abstaining from sexual immorality. The King James Version says, “abstain from fornication.” That seems to be more specific, but it still doesn't include all that scripture is saying. That's because the original word from the Greek language is pornea.

Just by hearing the word you get an idea of what it can include. It is from that word that we get the word pornography. Pornography is defined as sexually explicit videos, photographs, writings, or the like, whose purpose is to elicit sexual arousal. But this word in scripture includes even more than that.

The term is broad in its meaning and covers all forms of sexual sin, and refers to any sexual relationships that are not endorsed or blessed by God. That includes homosexuality, bestiality, incest, pornography, rape, sex before marriage, adultery, and fantasizing in the mind. We can know God's will in this matter because He spells it out in the Old Testament.

Let me list for you from Leviticus 18:6-23 some of the sexual activities prohibited by our Lord. Each of these assumes that the proper context for a sexual relationship would instead be with the person to whom one is married.

(1) Do not have sexual relations with any close relative who is a blood relative. (2) Do not have sexual relations with any person who has become a close relative through marriage. (3) Do not have sexual relations with a woman during her monthly cycle. (4) Do not have sexual relations with any person who is married to someone else. (5) Do not have sexual relations with a person of the same gender. (6) Do not have sexual relations with an animal. Those who engaged in these practices defiled (polluted) themselves!