The Life of Holiness
Text: 1st Thessalonians 4:1-8
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
Now if you remember last time we talked about looking unto Jesus and getting into the Word of God, and we talked about how we have all been adopted into God’s family and God expects certain kinds of behavior from His family, namely being like the Son – Jesus. Now often times in the Bible we are told that this walk of holiness is like an athletic conference or even like a battle, and so in a sense, when you are putting Scripture into your mind and into your spirit, what you’re doing is fortifying your position and stocking up on ammo. In-fact I think we are going to start having “Fighter Verses” here at our church, because whether we realize it or not, this battle we’re in is a fight for life and death. Our souls are at stake, our families are at stake, and our effectiveness for the kingdom is at stake. Satan walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, but here’s the thing, the battle plan is the same at every stage of the Christian life. Our senior drill instructor used to say, “Basic Training ends on the day you die.”
So tonight I want us to look at four things that Paul points out that will help us in this battle to maintain a holy walk before the Lord. And those 4 things are:
- God’s authority
- God’s justice
- God’s call
- And God’s Spirit
In our text here Paul talks about sexual immorality, he talks about defrauding one another, and he talks about uncleanness – but we can take this advice to deal with all types of sinful behavior. But I’m going to focus on these areas because that’s what the text focuses on.
Now sometimes when Leslie and Gabriel are playing one of them will get a little bit bossy and start telling the other what she should do. Most of the time those orders are ignored. But if MariJo or I tell them to do the same thing, they know they had best be doing what they’re told. Now I think that sometimes people can have the same attitude when we talk about morality, or purity, or holiness. They’ll say, “Well that’s just your opinion,” or, “That was what Paul taught 2000 years ago, but it doesn’t apply today.” The reality is that what God tells us in His Word is the all time standard for holiness, not man’s opinion, it’s not culturally bound. God’s Word transcends culture, it transcends time.
So in verse 1 Paul is urging and exhorting the Thessalonians and he’s telling them how they “ought to walk and please God.” In verse 2 he says, “we gave you your commandments.” A better translation would say, “We gave you these instructions.” And in the context of this passage these instructions were given by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now I want you to see how important following these instructions are, so take a look at verse 8 (Read). So if we disregard or ignore these instructions we are in effect treating Almighty God with disrespect and not worthy of our obedience. We’re saying God is of no significance when compared to our desires.
The Bible teaches that we live coram Deo, before the face of God, in every situation He is involved, He is present, He is there. So when we think of God being Almighty, being omniscient, omnipresent… we can’t help but think of His authority. So the next time you are tempted to sin think of God being with you and God’s commands to abstain from sinful behaviors and thoughts.
Sometimes people will say to you, “What I do in my own time doesn’t affect anyone else.” You find this is especially true in situations of sexual immorality. Sometimes people will tell you that their adultery is justifiable because there is no love in the marriage. But this passage knocks the legs out from under that kind of thinking. Sin, no matter what it is, always affects someone. It affects the person committing it, and somehow it affects those around him or her as well. Even if a man is sinning only in his imagination, he is still sinning against his wife, against women in general and against God. That kind of sin cheapens God’s special creation that was created in His image and after His likeness. And with all sin, the wages of sin is death.
Ephesians 5:5-6 says, “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” God is a just God. The idea that “no one gets hurt” by sins in the imagination is ridiculous!
So keeping in mind God’s authority and God’s justice helps us to resist temptation, and fight against sin.
Verse 7 of our text says, “God did not call us to uncleanness, but to holiness.” That’s kind of a summary of the entire passage. One of the greatest motivations for the Christian to pursue holiness is that God has personally and effectually called us to Himself. We belong to Him, we are not our own, we have been bought with a price. That’s why in verse 5 Paul contrasts Christians with the Gentiles who do not know God. If you are a Christian, you are not in darkness, you have come into the light. You have the Holy Spirit within you and if you will walk in the Spirit you will not be fulfilling the lusts of the flesh. You’ve been redeemed from slavery to sin, and you are a new creation in Christ. In this fight against sin it’s important to know who you are in Christ and Whose you are.
So our fourth thing Paul gives us here in this passage is the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the believer. That’s what Paul says in verse 8. Sometimes you’ll hear a Charismatic or Pentecostal preacher talk about being led by the Spirit; and what they mean by that is that the Holy Spirit will help you make plans or come to right decisions in life, but its interesting that in the 2 places in the NT where it talks about believers being “led by the Spirit” the context isn’t really talking about that kind of leading. Turn with me to Romans 8:13-14 (Read), now turn to Galatians 5:16-18 (Read).
In both of those passages, (the only 2 places in the NT we find the phrase “led by the Spirit” being applied to the believer) the context has to do with fighting against sin and living a moral and righteous lifestyle. In other words, if you have been born again, if you belong to Jesus, you have been given the power to fight against and win against sin. A word that gets used with some frequency in the McKinley household is the word “mortification.” I sometimes think MariJo gets a bit frustrated with the “Johns” in our home, John Calvin, John Knox, John Owen John Bunyan, and Jonathan Edwards… but you can learn a lot by reading the works of those classic Christian authors, theologians and pastors. I would say more than reading most contemporary Christian authors.
So; when we think about these four things – God’s authority, God’s justice, God’s call and God’s Spirit, when you think about these as weapons we can mount against sin; or four things we can look at and remind ourselves of when we are tempted, we have some powerful weapons at our disposal. They are not carnal, or worldly weapons, but they are mighty through God, for pulling down strongholds.
Now I just told you that there are only two places in the NT where we find the phrase “Led by the Holy Spirit” as it is applied to the believer, but that phrase is actually used in two other places in the NT. In Matthew 4 and Luke 4, both are referring to Jesus being led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where He went to war with the ultimate “tempter” himself, the devil. The Bible tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way during the course of His life, and He withstood every temptation that was thrown at Him. Jesus Christ never sinned. He faced every sin imaginable, every sin known to man, every sin you or I could ever be tempted with, and He overcame. He was without sin. But He was condemned to the cross like a common criminal. He died; not for His sins, He had none! But for your sins, and for mine.
He was delivered up to death for our sins, and our trespasses, but then raised up because of our justification.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!
So tonight, I want to urge you, just like Paul did to the Thessalonians, to strive towards a more holy life. To make a commitment to living more holy.
LETS PRAY
