ABSTINENCE NOT CONCUPISCENCE
(1Thessalonians 4:3-8)
A well-known theologian and pastor was requested by a distraught Christian mother into an undesirable counselling session with her young son who had moved out of the family home and into his own apartment owing to the mother’s constant religious and moral directives. The son also invited a willing coed to join him as his roommate. This pastor agreed to talk with the young man after explaining to the mother that such a session would possibly result to further hostility. The young man also agreed to meet.
When the young man arrived at the pastor’s office he obviously appeared hostile and wanted to get the meeting over with as quickly as possible.
The pastor began the interview bluntly asking the young man directly, “Who are you mad at?”
Without hesitation the young man growled, “My mother.”
“Why?” the pastor inquired.
“Because all she does is hassle me. She keeps trying to shove religion down my throat.”
The pastor went on to inquire, “But what alternative value system have you embraced in place of your mother’s ethical system?”
The young man replied, “I believe everyone ought to be free to do his own thing.” (How Should I Live in this World? by R.C. Sproul, pg.11,12)
It became clear that it wasn’t the mom’s constant reminder of religious directives that was bothering the son. The boy wanted to do his own thing and he wanted his mom to agree with what he was doing although it was morally wrong.
The last 50 years saw the rise of moral revolution in our culture, spearheaded by the protests of the youth and commune living who came to be known as the hippies. It was in this era that slogans like, “make love not war,” “tell it like it is,” and “do your own thing” was invented. The rise of the Women’s Liberation movement, seeking equal rights and opportunities in economic activities, politics and personal lives including family, sexuality and work.
Martin De Haan II of RBC Ministries said, “The social upheaval of the 60s foreshadowed a series of social conflicts that would seriously threaten the unity of the nation. The “Culture Wars,” as they came to be known, divided society over a series of moral issues often linked to religious convictions.” (Daniel Spiritual Living . . . pg.2)
Os Guiness said, “In today’s world, differences can be seen to make a difference. Beliefs have consequences.” (Daniel Spiritual Living . . . pg.2) I tend to agree with Os Guiness. What we believe is what we will become. Just as the young man in our illustration, he wanted to “do his own thing”—though he did it sincerely with all his heart, mind, soul and strength but “his own thing” wasn’t morally right and was against every religious ethic his Christian mother wanted to pass on to him.
John MacArthur, a well-known pastor in our days, commented, “Since the 1960s, when the modern revolution really accelerated, Western society has had fewer and fewer rules governing sexual attitudes and behaviors. Freedom of sexual expression has in many ways become the cultural god that rules over all the other idolatrous gods of postmodern culture. People want the right for themselves and others, to express their sexual desires at any cost, even if that means aborting the unwanted child resulting from a sexual union or risking a sexually transmitted disease.” (1&2Thessalonians, pg. 101)
Will this freedom of expression in our society give rise to the immoral, unbiblical outlook regarding sex?
I believe it will. In fact that is what’s going on now. This society is beset with problems like: divorce, premarital sex, homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, same sex marriages, abortion, pedophilia, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to pursue their calling to be holy which is an echoing theme found throughout this letter. He was also building on the Old Testament concept of holiness that seats at the core of God’s being (Lev 19:2). It encompasses not only moral attributes but also God’s judgment, salvation, love, and faithfulness (Hos 11:9; Mal 4:1).
As a quality of God, holiness is bestowed upon people by virtue of their relation to him. In the New Testament, the concept of holiness is used in the setting of a “new covenant” through Jesus Christ. Our body, in covenant relation to God, becomes his holy temple. To keep this body holy, we ought to be sanctified. Sanctification is a process by which we are being separated from sin and set apart to God’s holiness and become more like Christ. At the heart of this sanctifying grace is the sacrificial work of Christ, who paid the debt for our sins. Sanctification process is the direct result of salvation. That is why without Christ in our life there will be no sanctification.
“He who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1:6)
Therefore, the one who saved us will also sanctify us.
Paul knew the cultural context surrounding the Macedonian provinces especially Thessalonica. The city was a pagan Greco-Roman culture that is rife with sinful practices such as fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia, transvestism (men dressing like women) and a wide variety of pornographic and erotic perversions. This sexually permissive 1st century culture advocated ritual prostitution. Their belief was that if one engaged with a temple prostitute, he would be communing with the greek goddess the prostitute represented.
For example the Temple of Aphrodite in Corinth, it employed 1,000 priestesses who were religious prostitutes. Thus people did not consider it immoral nor adulterous when they indulged in sexual activity with these priestesses.
This is the reason why Paul was emphasizing sexual purity. He reminded the Thessalonians that God’s will for them is to “be sanctified; that they should avoid sexual immorality, that each should learn to control his own body . . .” (v.4) Let us look closer why Paul focused this time on sexual sin.
We have to remember that sanctification not only covers sexual sin. It covers all sins a person commits. But here, Paul put emphasis on sexual purity as God’s will to every Christian. Unlike the United States, the Thessalonians grew up with no Christian teachings and values that forbid the practices of sexual immorality. But why is it then our present society is similar to the one in which Paul lived and taught where every kind of sexual activity including violence and abuse of children has become commonplace? The answer is this. We have rejected the ethical teachings on marriage and sex which God has set as standards and they are:
1. God established marriage and He designed it to be between one man and one woman, thus, making it a sacred union.
Gen 2:18-25 “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him.”
2. God created sex which was to be practiced between one man and one woman who are married to each other only. God designed sex to be a beautiful and essential ingredient to marriage.
Gen 2:24 “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and the two are united into one.”
3. God created sex between the husband and the wife to reproduce and replenish the next generation.
Gen 1:28 ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”
4. God created sex for the husband and the wife as a means of expressing love to one another and to delight in one another in the most intimate of ways. It is for bonding of love and enjoyment between husbands and wives.
Prov 5:18,19 “. . .rejoice in the wife of your youth . . . may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.”
Eph 5:28 “. . . husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.”
5. When God conducted the first marriage, He intended that both would exercise the right for each other’s body. Each has a loving claim to the other’s body and not depriving one another of sexual intimacy.
1Cor 7:3-5 “The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and
likewise the wife to her husband. The wife’s body does not belong to
her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband’s
body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.”
In this section of Paul’s letter, there are at least three (3) principles we can learn from
1. SEXUAL SIN RUINS ONE’S OWN BODY (vv. 3-5)
Sexual immorality in the original text means “porneias” which is a term used to describe any form of illicit sexual behavior. “Porneias” in the english word means “fornication” that is any sexual activity that deviates from what God has clearly outlined in His word. So sexual immorality is any sexual activity that is performed outside marriage. So Paul was not exhorting the Thessalonians to keep clear of all “SEX” but of all “SEXUAL SIN.”
Paul described sexual sin as a sin that affects the body like no other. It is a sin affecting not just the flesh but to the whole being and personality. Sexual sin has disastrous effects and Christians are not exempt to its enticement. Clearly, other sins affect the body like gluttony you become obese or drunkenness can damage your liver. But no other sin has the same effect on the memory, personality, or soul of a person as sexual sin.
1Corinthians 6:17 Paul argues that in a sexual relationship with a prostitute makes the two one which may mean from that sexual union
may emerge a new human being.
Why is it that only sexual sin is plagued with terrible and horrific diseases such as syphilis, paresis, gonorrhea, herpes?
Over the years man found cure for these sexually transmitted diseases and ways to prevent one from getting inflicted with the use of condom. However, this did not stop the spread of this diseases. It even affected teenagers who indulge in sexual activity with multiple partners. The movie “She’s Too Young” depicted this problem in our present culture.
God allowed the spread of a new sexually transmitted disease that is incurable—AIDS (Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome). This disease was reported in 1981 in New York and California in homosexual men who contracted the virus primarily through sexual contact. Our body is the holy temple of the Holy Spirit. Indulging in sexual sin desecrates God’s holy temple, our body. Once we are in Christ, whatever our body does, must be to God’s glory, honor and praise. Any activity a Christian chose to do must conform to God’s standards and will. Christianity is not about following a list of dos and don’ts but a relationship in which the believers’ desire is to please their heavenly Father (2:4; 4:1) and to please Him is to be obedient to His standards commanded in Scriptures.
“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body.” (1Cor 6:18-20)
Now, to be sexually moral is to follow God’s principles regarding sex. In order for Christians to maintain sexual morality, Paul gives us a three principles:
A. A CHRISTIAN SHOULD ABSTAIN FROM SEXUAL SIN (v.3)
This means staying completely away from sexual sin like fornication which is for unmarried individuals whether teenagers or adults and adultery which is for married individuals. To abstain is to stay completely away from thoughts or behavior that violates the principles of God’s word that could result to act of sexual sin. It does not mean that promiscuous sex or wife-swapping is popular and accepted in a society that Christians can have a part in it. Whether or not a person is a Christian, he/she should abstain from any act of sexual sin.
Our country promoted “safe sex” instead of “abstinence” which only led to sexual promiscuity. In northeastern Spain, the regional government of Catalonia decided to install condom vending machines in schools.
A 16-yr. old girl said, “The way I look at it, birth control has saved my life. Every time I have sex I use it. I’m very careful because I can’t imagine have a baby right now. I’m just glad that I learned about birth control in school because not having sex just isn’t realistic.”
Another 16-yr old girl said, “Birth control is protection. It may not work exactly like abstinence, but it definitely prevents me and all my friends from getting pregnant.”
Prior to the 20th century, courtship gives an opportunity to both male and female to get to know each other more—family, education, religious, and economic background even without the intention of marrying yet. A young man visits his intended bride in her parental home and bring gifts, discuss common interests, and perhaps go for walks, eat out or watch movie with chaperone. In our present time, this is considered ridiculously oldfashioned.
Today, living together became the alternative for courtship. Pre-marital sex became the testing ground for compatibility then decide later to marry or not. It does not only happen to Hollywood celebrities but to ordinary people as well. Rejecting God’s standard of abstinence has led to pre-marital sex even among teenagers.
B. A CHRISTIAN SHOULD CONTROL HIS OWN BODY (v.4)
Believers must maintain self-control. In this present day, pornographic pictures can enter our homes through the internet and television. We are expose to all kinds of enticing materials that tempt our fallen flesh to immoral thoughts and actions. As in today’s culture, the culture of Paul’s day followed their physical appetites and impulsive, shallow emotions, The slogan, “if it feels good, do it” is the kind of philosophy people follow nowadays.
To control the body is to discipline one’s own body to honor God (1Cor 9:27). Make your body your slave not your master. To control the body is to walk in the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want but what the spirit wants (Gal 5:16-18). Be led by the Spirit that your life may be holy and honorable unto God.
C. A CHRISTIAN SHOULD NOT LIVE LIKE THE UNBELIEVER (v.5)
The Greco-Roman culture did not know God so they did not demand sexual purity of men. The word “lust” is “pathos” which means “uncontrollable desires, compelling feelings, overpowering urges” It carries the meaning of an “out-of-control” craving usually for that is
illegitimate or unrighteous (Rom 6:12; 2Tim 2:22; Titus 3:3; 1Pet 4:3).
Those who do not know God don’t know any better. They don’t have the truth taught in Scriptures; they don’t have the Holy Spirit in them; they don’t have Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior that is why to engage in sexual sin is easy for them for they don’t fear God. Christians should fear God for we already know what God is capable of doing if we sin against Him. Jesus said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Mat 10:28)
Same sex marriage is gross perversion. Their philosophies is defined in their slogans, "Let the gays have their freedom" or "whatever makes you happy, live with it."
People have not learned from history. Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed for its homosexual practices, The men said to Lot when they saw the angels entered his home “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” (Gen 19:5) . The english word “sodomy” was alluded to the illicit sexual act that was practiced by the men of Sodom.
2. SEXUAL SIN RUINS OTHER PEOPLE (v.6)
Here, Paul talks about committing fornication with a woman engaged to a fellow brethren or committing adultery with the wife of a Christian. Sexual sin ruins other people’s lives whether they be Christian or not. To have sexual affair with another man’s wife could possibly result to divorce and ruin the life of the other man. It takes advantage of a trusting relationship. But let us leave everything in the hands of God for “the Lord will punish those who commit such sins.” (v.6b)
Not all divorces result from sexual affairs, but the Bible says God hates divorce (Mal 2:16) because it hurts the spouse and the children that are innocent.
The January 19, 2004 issue of the Time magazine confirms America’s problem on divorce, “over the past 40 years, the couplescounseling
business has exploded. In 1966 there were only about 1,800 experts practicing in the field . . . In 2001 the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy listed 47,111 family and marriage therapists in the U.S.” (The Marriage Savers, pg. 88) Most of abortion cases are rooted in sexual sin. Unwanted, accidental or teenage pregnancies resulting from either pre-marital or extra-marital sexual affairs do sometimes lead to abortion. Whose life is ruined in the process?—the babies and sometimes the mother dies in the process.
A fifth grader named Angela wrote a letter to Dr. James Kennedy:
“Dear Dr. James Kennedy, my name is Angela and I am in 5th grade. I saw your show about partial birth abortion and I was in shock! I believe this needs to stop and I am on your side. If the people have the right to kill babies they should have the right to kill anyone. Babies are just as much of a person as anyone else. Please work your hardest for this to stop and stand up for those who can’t speak. Love, Angela.”
AIDS was first diagnosed among homosexuals but the virus found its way into other people’s bloodstream through contaminated hypodermic needles. Even in blood transfusion, some were contracted with the disease, male or female and even babies. In 2002, AIDS had claimed over 25 million lives worldwide. Approximately 40 million people throughout the world are infected with HIV although not all were contracted through sexual intercourse but this plague resulted
from immoral sexual act among homosexuals. AIDS begun as sexually transmitted disease has become an epidemic that is spreading rapidly in Eastern Europe, India, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Carribean. 40,000 cases are reported every year and one third are
women who indulged in heterosexual intercourse.
3. SEXUAL SIN RUINS ONE’S DEVOTION TO GOD (vv. 7,8)
The greek word “porneias” also means “idolatry” that is why committing sexual sin commits also the sin of idolatry. The mere fact that God is not pleased with person’s sexual sin, his devotion to God is tainted—his ardor or zeal in reading and studying God’s Word loses its savor; his praises and worship becomes ineffective and meaningless for God will not find them honorable and acceptable; his prayers are heard but aren’t answered because of the iniquity in his heart.
“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (Col 3:5)
So Paul was making clear to the Thessalonians that when God saved them, He also called them to holiness—”For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (v.7) “Impurity” is not just the acts of sexual sin but it includes unclean thoughts and intentions. So this teaching is in complete agreement with Jesus’ teaching on adultery:
“. . . I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Mat 5-28; Mark 7:21,22)
This is also consistent with his teaching to the Ephesians:
“. . . Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Eph 5:25-27)
Everything that we are and all that we have must be devoted to God first before anything else. Any believer who rejects, disregards, or despises the command to avoid sexual immorality is not rejecting man but God who gives His Holy Spirit. The reason why He gave us the Holy Spirit is to enable us to follow God’s commandments so that we might live pure and holy lives (1Cor 6:19-20; Rom 8:16; 2Cor 5:5; 1Jo 2:27). Sexual sin by a believer will certainly result to some degree in the loss of eternal reward (Prov 11:18; 2Cor 5:10; 2Jo 8).
CONCLUSION:
If in fact one of you was or is in a situation right now, rest assured that there is no sin that God cannot forgive. That is the greatest thing about our God. He is a loving. He is gracious. He is merciful. “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32) We must come to the foot of the cross. The love of the Father will help us understand the cross of Christ. His love for us all was demonstrated on His death on the cross. He did that because He who has the power to destroy both our body and soul wanted us to be reconciled back to Him. His grace can erase any sin for as long as we come to Him through Jesus Christ in humble repentance of our sin; putting our faith in Him alone—that He alone can save us from the pending wrath of God.
