Finally, then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you may excel still more. For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God, and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity but in sanctification.
Consequently, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. Now I ask to the love of the brethren. You have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. For indeed, you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia.
And we urge you, brethren, to excel still more and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your own hands, just as we commanded you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. We who are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ have been liberated. We are free from the bondage of sin that we might serve the Savior. Liberty has been granted to us, but not for self-pleasing, for self-serving existence.
Rather, we have been freed in order that we might submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In my reading this last week, I came across a statement by Kenneth Gangel in his book Leading and Feeding, in which he says, as he discusses a definition of spirituality, quote, link closely with the whole problem of definition is the balance between legalism and license.
On the one hand are those who jump on every opportunity, every rule or standard, to bring the church or other Christian institutions into conformity with their own views. Those at the other extreme want to push aside all rubrics, tear down all restraints on their behavior, raising the flag of God's grace anytime anyone suggests that salvation ought to produce a somewhat definitive lifestyle in accordance with New Testament teaching.
Of course, the biblical position, as always, provides the balanced middle between legalism on the right and license on the left. Where we find distinctively Christian leadership, there we find liberty, which is clearly related to spirituality. And there we find the control of the Holy Spirit freeing the believer to serve. That is the balance. We are freed by the grace of God that we might become what God wants us to be.
Our lifestyle choices, our lifestyle patterns ought to be rooted in what pleases God. We are to live so as to be a delight to him. This is not an isolated thought that is wrapped up only in one text in the New Testament and added in 1 Thessalonians. Indeed, consider these words of the apostle in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 9. We have as our ambition to be pleasing to him. His thought is, we make this our aim. We devote ourselves zealously to this cause, to be pleasing to him.
In Colossians 2 and verse 6 there is the familiar phrase, or verse rather, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. The point that Paul is making is that our conduct should correspond to our confession. If this is the message you have received, says the apostle in his argument, then let it affect how you choose to live. Be consistent. Let there be a thorough congruity between what you have professed to believe and how you choose to live out your life.
But how can we live pleasing to God in the 90s? The answer to that question unfolds for us in our text. In the first place it means that as God sees me, I must live purely. Who is it that establishes this standard? Often we all heard the phrase, you can't legislate morality. Or you read letters to the editor that say, who are these people trying to force upon us their morality? Who is it that establishes the standard of moral purity? Is it the Christian church?
Is it some fundamentalist preacher? Is it some band of zealots? The answer is no to all of those. It is God, the creator of all men who establishes the standard of moral purity. This is not a man-made rule, but it is a clear and specific statement of what God expects from all mankind. We live in an age of moral relevancy. Everything is blurred into some shade of gray, so it seems in our culture. That is the work of man. But God is very clear when it comes to this matter of sexual conduct.
What does it mean to be morally pure in the 90s? The same thing that it meant back in the first century. In the first place, it means to abstain from sexual immorality. It means to hold oneself away from that. It means any sort of sexual relationship apart from monogamous heterosexual marriage. Humanity is not only dangerous, which I think all of us know, but more importantly and at the root of it, it violates the holy nature of the creator of the human race.
It violates, secondly, his expressed will for humanity. Notice with me that there is a second part to being morally pure in the 90s. He says in verse 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. Possess your own vessel, says Paul. What does that mean? It means that we are to practice mastery over our bodies. We are to bring under control those appetites that are given to our bodies by God.
We are to bring those appetites under control so that sin cannot abuse them and use them for its purposes. Last week we talked briefly about how to acquire this mastery. How do I come to the point of expressing mastery in my body? We said that it begins by renewing the mind with the Word of God. We cleanse our way by taking heed to the Word of God. Secondly, by yielding our wills to the Holy Spirit.
We make the decision, but it is the Spirit of God that must empower us to follow through with the right decision. And thirdly, by avoiding places and situations of temptation. To Timothy, the apostle said, flee youthful lusts. If we expect to be morally pure in the 90s, we must take a third step. That step is found for us in verse 6 where he says that we are to respect our friends. When he uses the word brother, it's generic. It means the other person.
He says that no man transgress and defraud his brother in this matter of sexual behavior. To transgress means to step across the bounds of propriety. That is so important to remember in your dating. There is a proper way to behave when you're with another person on a date. And it's important that one not go across the bounds of propriety. Or he says to defraud or to wrong the other person. What that means is to excite in another person desires which cannot be righteously fulfilled.
If we would live purely in the 90s, it means that we must treat other people with consideration. That we must honor the bodies of other people that we're with. That we must respect their minds and their thoughts so that they can remain virtuous as well as we ourselves. God is very clear about what his standards are for living morally pure. Why should we do this? Is it because we're afraid of getting AIDS or an STD of some sort? That's a pretty good reason.
Is it because we're afraid of discovery? Is it because we do not want some undesired consequence to come to us? Well, for the Christian, God provides two other reasons here as to why we should live morally pure. In the first place, because of God's warning. God warns us that he is the avenger of those who are wronged sexually. In other words, God takes it upon himself to bring judgment in these cases. It may be that there will be some temporal consequences that will take place.
Galatians 6-7 is still in God's word and it says that whatsoever we sow, we reap. God forgives sin, but he doesn't necessarily interrupt the process of sowing and reaping. There are times when God judges by allowing natural consequences to take place because of that sin that was involved. But then beyond that which is temporal, there's that which is final, that is the judgment of God. I want to tell you that at the final judgment, God is going to bring justice.
God is going to declare what has happened and he is going to pour out judgment based upon his sense of righteousness, perfect righteousness. So why is it that we ought to live morally pure? Because we know that God has warned us regarding judgment and the consequences of sin. But there's another reason, that's God's calling. He says God has called us not for impurity, verse 7.
God did not call us to become his children so that we might then live impurely, but so that we might live in sanctification. In other words, in purity. God has called us that we might lead clean lives. That's why we ought to live this way. What if I choose not to live that way? What if I don't feel like living this way? What if I choose to disobey what God says? Well, God gives us a warning here. He says in verse 8, he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but God.
That is, he who looks down upon this, he who despises this standard of moral purity, is not despising man, but the God who establishes the standard. To treat moral purity as something secondary and unimportant in one's life is to slap God himself in the face. Someone asked, well what if I want to live this way, but I'm afraid that I can't. There are just too many pressures. Well notice that he says God gives his Holy Spirit to you. Yes, there are pressures.
We live in an overly stimulated society when it comes to sexual matters. And God has given us his Holy Spirit so that by the Spirit we can put to death the deeds of the body, the appetites that the body has that want to be expressed in an impure way. God has given us his Spirit and he will enable us. But then there's that question that we hear, but what if it's two willing adults who are involved?
Then in that case I would ask you to check back with point number one that says abstain from sexual immorality. But what if I was taken advantage of, someone says. What if I was taken advantage of as a child or as an adult, I was coerced. You are not responsible before God if you participated in something that was against your will. I think that is important to underscore in this day when there is so much sexual abuse that is coming to the surface.
You need not feel guilty for the sin of someone else. God does not hold you accountable for that if you were taken advantage of by someone else. God still looks upon you as morally pure and nothing less than that. Someone says what if I've already blown it?
Well the fact is that you can repent of that and God calls upon you to repent of it and to acknowledge your sin to Him and to that person that you have sinned against or those persons you have sinned against so that your conscience can be clear. To acknowledge your sin and to determine from this point on to be a morally pure individual. What does it mean to live so as to please God?
It means as God knows me, and God knows a whole lot more about all of us than anyone else, as God knows me to be morally pure. But our text continues into another realm. It also means as my brother knows me to live lovingly. If I am to live so as to please God it means that I must practice the love of others, especially those in the family of God. This is expected of me and there are two reasons why it's anticipated. In the first place, we who are in the family of God are what he calls brethren.
That word literally means those who come from the same womb. We who are the children of God have come from his womb as it were to be born again by his spirit. And because we are of the same family and the same nature, the same spiritual genetics if you please, because of that we are to love one another. There are some times when kids are small you wonder if they will ever love one another. My wife asked me this last week, do you think our kids will ever love one another?
And I assured her that they would, by faith. There are those natural rivalries and other kinds of disputes and spats that take place as children grow up. But the natural, the normal thing is for brothers and sisters to love one another. And it's a blessed time in life when that becomes the practice as well as that deep hidden feeling that somewhere down in the heart you're pretty sure. They begin to practice it and to show that love and so it is with the family of God.
And he says because we are brothers. Not only that he says God has taught you to love. God has put his spirit within you and the spirit of God is instructing you to love, you're God taught to love others. The expression of this love is important. It's not just enough to feel it. In fact there are some times you don't feel it when you nonetheless practice it. There are some people in the family of God that make it very tough to feel love for them. You know what I'm talking about.
There may be certain characteristics that at least with your own personality there's just a grating and there isn't the natural kind of bonding that you find with other personality types. Even so the word of God says we are to practice love. We're to do what is good for the other person. You see love is not just a matter of feeling it's a matter of doing.
Doing and I guess the challenge I'd like to present to all of us today is what can we do this week to show love to someone and especially to someone who is unlovely. For that's where it really becomes love. That's where it really becomes love. When it's somebody that we don't naturally take to and yet we go out of our way to show kindness. I noticed that Don in his prayer this morning mentioned the need for forgiveness. That is such a need among the family of God.
We need to forgive each other when there is failure. When there is offense. We need to express the willingness to lay that aside as something that's no longer important between you and another because just as Christ has forgiven us we're to forgive one another. Is there someone against whom you have a grudge this morning? If that be the case then I challenge you to practice what God says here. To love that person by laying aside the offense.
As my brother knows me to please God I must live lovingly. And finally he says as outsiders know me I must live honorably if I am to live to please God. In the last part of verse 10 he says we urge you brethren to excel still more and more. Take it your ambition to lead a quiet life, attend to your own business, and work with your own hands. As outsiders know me, outsiders of the family of God, they must know me to live honorably. In verse 12 he says so that you may behave properly. Properly.
That word means to live in a balanced way. That means well formed, a well rounded balanced life is in view, or we might say it this way, a grace filled life. Notice the four exhortations here. In the first place he says we must excel still more and more. The point is don't be satisfied where you are. Be the kind of a person who's always stretching out. Don't be content with just getting by in your Christian life, but go for it. Beware of complacency and self satisfaction.
That's unbecoming to a Christian. Be at your best as you push, as you brush shoulders rather with non-Christians. Let them see the growth in your life, the competence in your life, the determination in your life. That's the point. There are some people who have retired with 20 years yet to work. They've decided that they're done pushing. They're not going to grow, they're not going to develop anymore, they're just going to put in the time until finally they can get out of that situation.
Oh God says look if you want to live to please me, live honorably by excelling. Being all that you can be in every situation that I the Lord bring into your life. Secondly he says aim to lead a quiet life. Make this your ambition. Live eagerly to lead a quiet life. He's not necessarily talking about the noise, the den of life. He's talking about the pace of life. Sometimes noise is unavoidable, but we can have some control over the pace of our lives.
He's saying don't push yourself to seek to be noticed. Don't be the one who's always got to be in the center of the conversation. But make it your aim to lead a quiet life. Be willing to stand in the background and to come forward when you're called upon. But don't be the kind of a person who pushes yourself on other people. Aim to lead a quiet life. Adjust the pace of your life. He says thirdly attend to your own business. We might put it this way in our own language.
They mind your own business, except it's not said in a gruff, unkind way. He's saying that we need to beware of being idle meddlers in matters that are not our concern. That's a normal tendency at least for some children in the family, isn't it? Does your family have a reporter? Most families have at least one reporter. Mom, you know what so-and-so did. I'm going to tell. Now there are times when that may be not unappropriate or inappropriate.
So often at least in our situation we have to say look, mind your own business. We adults do the same thing, don't we? We begin sticking our nose into situations that we really have no business inquiring about. And sometimes we use pretty good reasons for that. Well, it's so I can pray more intelligently, we say. Well, we all need to pray more intelligently, no question about that. We have to be careful our motive is right and pure in that.
He says if you want to live to please God in your social relationships with other people in the church, in the outside, at work where you are, in your neighborhood, then learn to attend to your own business. Doesn't mean we shouldn't be loving when someone needs help. Doesn't mean that we shouldn't say a word of encouragement, but it means that we ought not to be meddlesome troublers of others. Kind of reminds you of Peter and John, doesn't it?
Jesus took John aside and was telling him what was going to happen and Peter said, but he wondered, what about me? And Jesus rebuked him gently and said, hey, Peter, you mind your business, I'm dealing with John right now. Finally he says if you and I want to behave in an honorable way so as to please God, it means that we must work with our own hands. We have here a strong affirmation of manual labor. Never look down upon someone who works with their hands.
Work with your own hands, but there's a broader application than that. What it means is be responsible for your own needs. Don't allow yourself to fall into a pattern of being a freeloader. Don't expect someone else to support you if you're able to care for your own well-being. That's the point. I am glad that in some places in our country at least there is an emphasis upon this when it regards the welfare system. The people who can work should work. Work fair. Work with your own hands.
That is the command of God. And if you and I want to live honorably, we must be careful not allowing ourselves to live off of other people. Listen these are practical and relevant commands for living in the 1990s. A person who will live this way will in the first place be a testimony to non-Christians. He says that, so that you may behave honorably toward outsiders. But there's more than that. There's a tendency on the part of people who obey this counsel to be adequate.
They won't have needs arise that others will. He says that you may not be in any need. This is practical stuff. Living to please Jesus Christ in our day is the same as it was in the apostolic times. As far as God knows me, I am to live purely. As my brothers know me in the family of God, I am to live lovingly. As outsiders know me, I am to live honorably among them. Understand that this kind of living is not legalistic living.
On the other hand, neither is it demanded of us apart from the power of the Holy Spirit who is resident within us. If we have the Spirit of God living within us as the children of God, then we have the capacity to do what God tells us to do. Whether it be with our moral purity, our loving actions toward others, or our proper behavior in the world, we have the capacity. The question is, is that capacity released? Is the Holy Spirit's power enabling us? How do I get that?
I hear a lot about it, but how do I know whether the Holy Spirit is in control in my life? That is not a hard thing to know. If I have consciously yielded myself to God and have asked the Holy Spirit to control me and strengthen me, He is doing it. It is that simple. It is a matter of faith. It is not something we feel. There is not some experience that we get when the Holy Spirit is in charge. It is a matter of faith.
Because you have received Christ Jesus the Lord by faith, so walk ye in him by faith. The real point is whether or not I have yielded myself fully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, as fully as I know how to do. When I do that, then the Spirit of God immediately begins to empower me by releasing His power in my life. We can do all of the right things, but if we do it in our own strength, it is only so much rubbish. It will not pass the test of God.
Living morally pure and loving in our actions and honorably, living that way must be done in the power of the Spirit of God for it really to please the Lord. You are like me, and on occasion when I was to fill out a paper, a form, and rather than read carefully the heading at the top, I just began to fill it out.
When I got it all done, I looked back and decided I would read what I said at the top of the page, and I said, please fill this out in black ink, and I had used a blue pen through the whole form. I had done all the right things, and every answer in there was right, but the form wasn't acceptable. You and I can live morally pure. We can express love to other people.
We can be honorable in our lives, but if we haven't consciously yielded to the Holy Spirit and allowed Jesus Christ to be the Lord of our lives, then all that action is for naught. It's to be under His Lordship. That's His direction. Let's read the directions first, and then go out to live. Let's pray. Would you stand with me please as we close our service? Just before we close in prayer, I wonder if where you're standing there, you would respond to God in some way.
Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? If not, would you trust Him this morning, believing on Him alone for the salvation of your soul? If you've trusted Jesus Christ, is He truly the Lord of every area? You know, there used to be a bumper sticker that went around. It was popular for a time. The people put on their cars, and they said, God is my co-pilot. The friend God isn't interested in being anybody's co-pilot. He wants the pilot job. He's not interested in shared leadership.
He wants to be the Lord. Will you yield yourself to Him and determine in your heart by His strength and His enabling to live so as to please God? Father, I pray that that will be a desire burned deeply within our hearts, that we might make it our zealous aim to live every day so as to please the Lord, and empower us by your Spirit to do that as we go from this place of worship. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. God bless you. Word is missed. God bless you.