LIVING WITH DISTINCTION
1 Thessalonians
4:1-12
|
THESIS: As a Christians, we must live a life that distinguishes us
from the world around us – living a life of moral purity, loving others and
working hard. |
1. Resist Fleshly Lust-- Don’t Indulge It
--One of the surprising elements in this text is how
closely related sexual purity is to personal holiness.
--In order to maintain our distinctiveness as
followers of Christ, we are given very clear instruction about what God wants
to see in the sensual areas of our lives, especially as it deals with
sexuality.
--Christians are never immune to the pressures of
cultural conformity, but that pressure increases substantially when it pushes
us to satisfy God-given appetites in selfish and ungodly ways.
--Lust by definition is the desire to satisfy
God-given needs and desires in an ungodly way.
a. Immorality
--Two forms of sexual immorality are included in the
word porneiva" used here (from which we get our word “pornography”):
Adultery -- Engaging in sexual activity with anyone other than your one
marriage partner (whether that activity is actual sexual intercourse or any
activity associated with it)
Fornication -- Sexual activity prior to marriage, or outside the bonds and
covenant of marriage
--With the obsession our culture has developed with
sexuality, many have tried to reject God’s instruction altogether, ignoring it
while simultaneously trying to affirm that it is valid, or adjust it to allow
various kinds of immorality that lead up to but do not include sexual
intercourse.
We cannot get around the clear instruction of the
Lord on this subject that any heterosexual
or homosexual activity outside the
special holy relationship of a husband and wife is strictly forbidden.
--Those who violate the standard may try to justify
their actions however they want but the truth of God stands against them and
they will suffer the consequences if they persist.
1 Thessalonians 4:6
b. Injury
--God understands that sexual immorality is not a
“victimless” sin as some have tried to say as they have tried to make it not a
problem.
1 Thessalonians 4:6
Transgression and Defrauding Your Brother
This passage reminds us that such sin always
inflicts injury by transgressing and defrauding our brother, or sister.--Any
time we move outside of marriage to engage in sexual activity, we cross the
line drawn by the Lord, we transgress, and move into territory that belongs to
someone else.--In so doing, you defraud another of what is intended by God for
their pleasure.
Possessing and
Honoring Your Spouse
Even within the context of marriage, we are
responsible for treating our spouse with honor and dignity, focusing on their
needs and desires above our own.--Your spouse is not to be a ‘possession’ in
the sense of property but in the sense of one entrusted to you by the Lord to
be treated with holiness and purity as a treasured vessel from Him.
--Anything that degrades or humiliates or dishonors
brings injury and removes the presence of sanctity and holiness from the
relationship that God wants to stand as a picture of Christ’s pure relationship
with the Bride of Christ.
c. Impurity
Impure thinking -- When our thinking focuses
on impure matters, we become obsessed with them and will often act irrationally
and irresponsibly to satisfy the urges conceived in our minds.
--Recent statistics indicate that as many as 10% of
the men in this nation have fallen into such unhealthy patterns of thinking
that they find themselves under the control of sexual addiction.
--The impure thoughts lead them to feed impure
passions with the fuel of deeper and deeper levels of ungodly and perverse
perspectives that look for more than mental satisfaction; they move on to the
physical realm to put their thoughts into action.
Impure
enticements
-- Surrounding us is a culture so saturated with sensuality that virtually
nothing causes us to blush anymore as one enticement after another presents
itself for our consideration.
--Some may appear to be quite innocent, such as
clothing fashions which capitalize on the visual nature of men and promote ways
of dressing that entice them to think impure thoughts about women.
--Even young women, young students, who have no idea
of the impact they are having, contribute to the problem of their brothers and
fathers by making purity very difficult by the way they dress.
--Young men can and do make the same mistakes in
their mode of dress, sometimes intentionally trying to get attention in an
enticing manner that leads to impurity of thought and inflames sensual
passions.
--Impurity has reached such a high level of
acceptance in our culture that it is no longer even recognized as problematic,
even among those who belong to Christ and have been called to purity!
--In essence, we have no excuse for any practice or
conception of sexual immorality if our hearts take their instruction from the
Lord and seek to be holy unto Him.
Psalm 119:9-11
·
Sanctity
promotes purity,
·
Purity
produces modesty,
·
Modesty
protects chastity, and
·
Chastity
preserves sanctity.
2. Release Brotherly Love--Don’t Withhold It
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10
a. Taught by God
--When we grasp the infinite nature of God’s love,
we are taught by example and by exhortation that His love is to be shared with
others...freely and unconditionally.
--Christ taught His disciples that one of the most
distinctive marks of those who love Him is that they also love one another as
He loves them.--We cannot love God and not also love one another.
b. Practiced by All
--Paul commends the Thessalonians for putting this
distinctive into practice so that it is not just an ideal never to be realized
but a calling to be acted upon by all.
--If many of the members of the body of Christ
faithfully demonstrate the love of Christ and only a few fail to do so, what
will be remembered?--God calls us to be distinctive in the way all of us love
one another.
Besides practicing moral purity, loving one another
clearly distinguishes us as people in whom the character of Christ is being
reproduced.
3. Respect Humble Labor--Don’t Despise It
--The last area of distinctiveness mentioned by Paul
has to do with our perspective on our work, our vocations, our labors to
provide for ourselves and the needs of our families.
a. Ambition with Humility
Lead a Quiet Life
Mind Your Own Business
Embrace a Healthy Work Ethic
b. Attention to Responsibility
Don’t Impose on Others When You Can Work
Don’t Imagine that Others Owe You a Living
November 7, 1999
Providence
Baptist Church
| Return to 1999 Sermon Outlines |