The father of Matthew Henry, the great Bible commentator, was
courting a girl who was heiress to a fortune while he was a
Presbyterian minister. Her father said to her, "He may be a perfect
gentleman, a brilliant scholar, and an excellent preacher, but he is a
stranger, and we don't know where he came from." "True," she
replied, "But we know where he is going, and I should like to go
with him." She did go with him, and it is no wonder that such a
marriage should produce great fruit for the kingdom of God. It was
founded on God designed goals. This girl wanted a man whose goals
were God's goals, and he wanted a girl that shared those goals.
I have read that one of the biggest gripes of an architect is people
who want him to design a home, but really only want him to put
down on paper what is in their own heads whether it is sensible to
him or not. Such is often the case with Christians who pray for God
to direct their lives. They really mean, approve of what we have
already decided to do. This is so often true in the whole matter of
choosing a life mate. Marriages are only made in heaven for those
who seek heaven's guidance. The issue of marriage and sex has
always been a major concern for Christians. Here in Paul's first
letter we get a glimpse of what was a universal problem. First
consider-
I. HIS EXHORTATION v. 1.
Paul had just built up in 3:13 to the ultimate goal of the Christian
life to be holy and unblameable at the coming of Christ. Now he
goes on to urge them to strive for that goal. Paul is saying that
sanctification is not automatic. You don't just everyday in every
way get better and better. It is a matter of constant conscious
obedience to the commands of Christ.
Paul beseeches them and exhorts them to go on walking so as to
please God more and more. In verse 2 he says you have the
knowledge, and you know what Christ expects, but now you must
put it into practice, for this is God's will and purpose for your life.
In Eph. 1:4 Paul said, "According as He has chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love." I read of a farmer who said when he
was offered a book on how to improve his farming, "I already know
more now about farming then I am practicing." That is the case
with us as Christians. We already know more of what God wills
than we are practicing, but we must be ever pressing on to His goal
for us, which is to be fully sanctified. Second we see-
II. HIS EXPLANATION. v. 3.
Paul was diplomatically laying the background for dealing with a
very sensitive and serious situation. These Thessalonians had been
raised in paganism all their lives where sexual ethics was totally
perverted. Paul was writing from Corinth where there were 1000
prostitutes in the temple of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. It
seems strange to us that Paul would have to tell Christian people
that it was God's will that they abstain from sexual immorality, but
when you consider the background of these people, it is not so
strange at all. None of them were raised in Christian homes, but all
were raised in pagan homes. Their concept of sex was totally pagan.
Timothy had apparently come back with some news that was not
good. These Christians were still practicing the sexual ethics of their
pagan society. This is happening in our day as well, for studies show
that Christian youth have sex outside of marriage almost to the same
degree as non-Christian youth. These Thessalonians were selecting
their mates by immoral methods. We need to remember that when
we talk about the power and purity of the early church we are
referring to the Jewish Christians at Pentecost. They were already
well trained in the Word of God, and biblical sexual ethics. The
Gentile churches did not have this background.
Lesser men than Paul would not have had the wisdom and tack
to handle this as Paul did. Many would blast such corruption with
scorching condemnation, and try to shame and scare them into
purity. Paul, like his Lord, took an altogether approach. He praises
them for their growth. He recognizes their faith and love, and urges
them on to greater commitment. He points out the great goal of the
Christian to be holy and blameless, and then moves in to show how
different this is from the heathen goals, and how they must leave
those behind, and press on to godly goals.
The psychology of Paul is obvious. If I want to see a person
arrive at a higher goal, the surest method of failure is that of
discouragement and condemnation. If a child is learning to play the
piano, the quickest way to kill their enthusiasm is to point out how
insignificant his pounding is compared to the beautiful music of
some great pianist. You can try and shame them into working
harder by telling them they will never get anyone to listen to them if
that is all they can do. What you need to do is tell them that what
they are doing is wonderful, and you can see they are making
progress. You encourage them to think that they are learning, and
that someday they will be able to play beautiful music. This was
Paul's method in this letter.
Paul recognized that sanctification is a process which is advanced
by teaching, and not by threatening. He does add a threat
sometimes, but that is not his primary method. In verse 4 he says
that everyone should know how to control his own body in a way
that is holy and honorable. In verse 5 he adds, "Not in passionate
lust like the heathen, who do not know God.." Paul is saying that a
Christian can and must control the sex drive.
In Rom. 1 Paul points out that all sorts of sexual perversions
arose among heathen peoples because they did not know God. In
other words, for the world sex is determined by the appetite, and
doing what comes naturally. In the Christian life sexual expressions
are to be determined by one's commitment to God's will for a
sanctified and honorable life. It is important to see that Paul is
saying that sanctification and sex are to be in harmony. Sex is to be
a part of life which is beautiful and precious as God meant it to be.
C. S. Lewis in his book Christian Behavior says, "Modern people
are always saying sex is nothing to be ashamed of. If they mean, he
says, 'there is nothing to be ashamed of in the fact that the human
race reproduces itself in a certain way, nor in the fact that it gives
pleasure,' they are right." Christianity says the same thing. It is not
the thing, nor the pleasure that is the problem. The old Christian
teachers said that if man had never fallen, sexual pleasure, instead of
being less than it is now, would actually have been greater. I know
some muddle-headed Christians have talked as if Christianity
thought that sex, the body, and pleasure, were bad in themselves.
But they were wrong.
Christianity is almost the only one of the great religions which
thoroughly approves of the body, and which believes that matter is
good, and that God Himself once took on a physical body, and that
some kind of body is going to be given to believers in heaven.
Christianity has glorified marriage more than any other religion,
and nearly all the greatest love poetry in the world has been
produced by Christians. If anybody says that sex is bad in itself,
that person does not understand Christianity.
It is just because of the Christians high view of the body and sex
that the Christians sexual ethics is so far above that of the world.
Recognizing it as a God given gift, we also recognize that, like all the
rest of life, it must be used in conformity with His will that we be
sanctified and holy. This simply means it is an appetite that needs to
be satisfied within the framework of love and marriage.
To satisfy any appetite by illegitimate means is a departure from the
will of God. It is perfectly natural to walk by a pop corn stand, or a
hot dog counter, and have you appetite stimulated. No one will
question the normalcy of your desire to have some of that product to
satisfy your wetted appetite, but if it is not within your means to
lawfully satisfy it by buying some, no one would consider you
justified in stealing it.
The sexual appetite is also perfectly normal, but there is also
legitimate and illegitimate ways to satisfy it. The Bible says that the
legitimate way is in a life commitment to another whom you love. If
you don't have the money for the popcorn, you have to wait until
you do. If you don't have someone you can love for the rest of your
life, you also need to wait until you do. Some false prophets with a
bit of psychology suggest that it is repression to deny one's sex drive
satisfaction, and it is bad for one's health.
This has led to all kinds of justified immorality. Resisting a
conscious desire is a normal part of the whole battle with
temptation. It is not only not harmful, but it is helpful and
strengthens the character to resist. The repression that is dangerous
is that of being so frightened of some impulse that you do not let it
become conscious at all. Then it enters the sub-conscious and causes
trouble. This is the danger of those who look upon sex as an evil in
itself. It ought never be a problem to a Christian who recognizes sex
as normal.
Many years ago Dr. F. C. Wood Jr. preached a sermon on sex at
an all girls school. The sermon stirred up a great deal of response,
and it is no wonder, for though he started with a biblical premise
that sex is good, he ended with a conclusion as far from the biblical
conclusion as East is from the West. He said, lets relax and not
worry about our sex perversions. Don't take it so serious." This
false thinking goes right back to the day of Paul, and it has plagued
the church through the centuries. It is called anti-nomianism. It
means anti-law. It is a perverted concept of grace that says if grace
abounds where there is sin, then let us sin all the more that grace
may more abound. All law and rules are thrown out the window,
lest anyone think we are saved by being good. This leads to the
thinking that we can do as we please, for God's grace will take care
of us.
Paul says no such thing. He goes on to say that God will avenge
all sex perversions. Paul makes it clear in verse 8 that those who
reject his instructions do not reject man, but God. In other words,
Paul is saying that the arguments of those who say ethics are all
relative to the culture, and are arbitrary and man made, are false.
The Bible makes it clear, not just here, but everywhere that purity in
sex is an absolute and universal standard in the sight of God. The
one thing we always know in every situation is that it is God's will
for our sanctification.
