PURSUING PURITY: THE PRINCIPLE
(I Thessalonians 4:1-8)
Main Idea: Pursuing purity is a choice that moves beyond exclusion to embrace God’s highest passion for each believer.
While Kathy and I were on vacation in Hot Springs we went to one of my favorite places to eat: McClard’s Barbecue. McClard’s is an institution in Hot Springs and has received national recognition for its barbecue. McClard’s is a place where you go for serious artery clogging, diet-busting, finger-licking, napkin using barbecue and all that comes with it. Now, while I love the barbecue, there is a menu item there that I can get nowhere else called: The Spread. The Spread comes in full or half. The Half-Spread starts with a layer of Fritos, then a two-inch diameter tamale, BBQ Beans, BBQ-Pork, BBQ Sauce, onions and grated cheese. A full spread is double that!
As I was waiting to place my order of a half-spread and a side order of fries (If I’m going down, I’m going all the way!) I overheard a woman across from our table discussing her order with a very patient waitress. She wanted to be certain that she got only the chicken breast and then asked the waitress for "grilled veggies." It was as if the whole restaurant grew silent and the very patient waitress offered the Cole slaw as a substitute. I wanted to say, "Lady, this place is for serious grease! You obviously don’t understand the concept of McClard’s." I wanted to order a full-spread just to show off but knew I would pay the price later!
Now just as out of place as a request for "grilled veggies" would be at McClard’s, so choosing to pursue a lifestyle of sexual purity is just as foreign in our western culture, even our American Christian culture. Over time our American culture has allowed, as one writer said, "the sexualization of all things animate" and the "pornification of America". ("Pornifying Politics", Kathleen Parker, The Sun, 7/19/07) We are a people pervasively obsessed with the power of sex. I remember when the TV show MASH came out in the 70’s I wouldn’t watch it because of the sexual content. Then "Three’s Company" came out in the 80’s and that made MASH seem less offensive. Then in the 90’s "Friends" came out and that made "Three’s Company" seem tame. Today just about any current sit-com or drama makes "Friends" seem harmless. How in the name of all that is right do you pursue a lifestyle of moral and sexual purity in a culture that offers sexual temptation in every imaginable dimension?
If I am honest with you then I have to admit that I don’t have a neat packaged answer for that. Yet God calls us as 21st century believers to a relentless pursuit of purity. We assume that our culture is more sexually charged than any before it. However, we only need to look at the culture in which the Christians in Thessalonica lived to understand we are not the first to struggle with the call of God to pursue purity in a culture that finds that out of place. Paul faced this concern as he wrote to the Thessalonian believers. Paul has perhaps heard from Timothy that although the Thessalonians have excelled in many areas, there is a concern for them in the area of sexual purity.
The society of the Thessalonians was one of a double standard for men and for women. Women or marriageable women were to remain sexually chaste or pure. Men, on the other hand, were not expected to maintain the same attitude. In fact men were encouraged to fulfill their every sexual desire. A man might have a mistress who could provide him also with intellectual companionship. Slavery made it possible for him to have forced satisfaction. Casual gratification was available from a prostitute while a man’s wife was to manage his household and be the mother of his legitimate children and heirs. One Greek writer, Demosthenes, said, "We keep mistresses for pleasure, concubines for our day to day bodily needs, but we have wives to produce legitimate children and serve as trustworthy guardians of our homes."
We may not have a similar class structure that is so obvious. We are nevertheless inundated with a constant assault on our pursuit of sexual purity that many believers have simply raised the flag of surrender and joined the other side. We are left trying to excuse our participation in a multitude of actions outside the bounds of sexual purity. The result is that, to our shame, there is too often little difference between the lack of sexual purity within the church as without it.
In the next two Sundays I want us to lower the flag of surrender and instead raise up the arm of resistance by challenging us to pursue sexual purity as an individual believer and in our church family. What I want us to see is that pursuing purity is a choice that moves beyond exclusion to embrace God’s highest passion for each believer. I want us to start by examining the principle of pursuing sexual purity and then next week to look at the process for doing that practically in our lives. Too often we get focused on just "don’t" or the idea of exclusion. I want us to move beyond exclusion to embrace a life that God wants for us that allows us to enjoy life now and forever.
To get at the principle that Paul addresses I want us to look at two verses in our text and then work backwards from them. The verses are I Thess. 4:3: "God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin." and I Thess. 4:7: "God has called us to be holy, not to live impure lives." Notice the first part of each of these verses: "God wants you to be holy…" and, "God has called us to be holy…." You may have another translation that uses the word "sanctification" for the word "holy." The word means "the process of making holy." The word "holy" means "to be set apart exclusively for God’s use." Paul says that it is God’s "will" and his calling for every believer to undergo the process of being or becoming holy or to be completely set apart for God’s use.
Okay, what does this look like? Paul tells the Thessalonians later in I Thess. 5:23 that this process of becoming holy is something that God takes on as his highest passion. He says, "Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again." It is God’s passion that our lives now and forever be free from anything that would distort the reflection of Christ in our lives. That is what it means to be holy and what it means to experience the process of sanctification. It is God removing over time anything in my life that doesn’t reflect Jesus Christ so that when Jesus returns he is fully able to see himself in my life. John said, "We are already God's children, and we can't even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure." (I John 3:2-3).
So what is the principle? It is that it is God’s great passion for each believer to fully reflect the image of Jesus Christ currently and in eternity. God has a destiny designed to pursue purity in our lives relentlessly and completely.
There are many places that Paul may have chosen to apply this principle of pursuing purity but the one he focuses on is in the area of sexual purity. He says, "God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin." Another translation says, "that you abstain from sexual immorality." Paul says that a life that pursues purity will choose to exclude sexual sin or sexual immorality. The original word that he uses here has both a narrow and a broad scope. The word is the word we get our word "pornography" from and can mean physical sexual intimacy that is outside of marriage to self-gratification, premarital sex, extra-marital sex, homosexuality and other deeds done in darkness, which would include pornography in any and all mediums.
Just so we are all on the same level and in case no one has ever told you, God has reserved physical sexual intimacy to be the exclusive joy of a man and a woman who are married to each other. Any other expression of sexual gratification outside of marriage is to be excluded from the life and lifestyle of a believer. Paul uses the word "abstain" or as the NLT says "keep clear." Sexual gratification of any kind without the boundary of marriage is considered off limits for every believer. It is something from which we are to steer clear and say "No!"
Now the objections start to come: "Well, we love each other so that should be something God understands." "Well, we aren’t doing ‘it’ so we aren’t violating God’s standard." "Well, I’m doing this without hurting anybody so why is it wrong?" "Well, we are just being silly when we say those things to each other at work. I mean I’m just friendly." "Well, their mate doesn’t understand them like I do so they need me." All kinds of things we can come up with that pushes the limit without stepping over the line. We see the line out there as the big "no" and we think if we aren’t doing that then somehow we’re okay or that because of our feelings the rules don’t apply to us. The truth is that whatever I do that hinders me from being wholly set apart to God in the area of pursuing sexual purity is sexual sin.
Now I understand that many of you are asking, "Can’t you come up with something other than ‘God says, ‘Don’t’?" There is something beyond "don’t" but we first need to decide that there is a certain authority in this one exclusion "to keep clear of all sexual sin." It is a choice or a decision that each person must make themselves if they are going to pursue purity in their lives. That is why Paul makes his plea to these Christians so strongly and so passionately. He knew that there were other decisions they could make so he uses everything in his verbal power to influence them to choose to pursue purity in their lives.
He tells them in verse one that pursuing purity is not a choice that comes naturally. (I Thess. 4:1). What he is explaining in verse one is that it was necessary to instruct them how that they were to live in order to please God. He uses relational language by reminding them that they are like family to him. This instruction he believes is absolutely essential so he stresses the urgency of what he has to say. If there were any questions as to who gave him the right to say what he says to them, he adds that it is with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. He hasn’t heard that they were not doing this but he wants them to strive for it more fully.
Here is the point: pursuing purity is not going to come naturally for any believer in the culture in which we live. Therefore it is absolutely essential that as your pastor and brother in Christ that I and we as the church instruct each other to pursue purity. It wasn’t going to come naturally for these Thessalonian Christians and it won’t be for us. Pursuing purity comes as a result of our understanding what God’s passion is and then choosing to follow that with all our life!
Another thing is that pursuing purity is not optional for a believer (I Thess. 4:2). Paul reminds them of what he taught them previously and that it was with the authority of "the name of the Lord Jesus." Other translations use the word "commandments" to define what he taught. The word is only used two other times in the New Testament, both by Paul. It was the word that was used by Roman soldiers as they passed on the commands of an officer to his troops. By using this word he is telling them that what he told them wasn’t up for discussion or debate. It was the very command of Jesus Christ and was to be obeyed.
When did pursuing purity, especially sexual purity, become optional for Christians? Do you understand that the words "keep clear of all sexual sin" is not up for debate in your life as a believer? The principle of pursuing purity is a command that we are to obey, not a concept we are to discuss. Here’s what frustrates me: If I don’t tolerate or express my intolerance of sexual sin in believers’ lives then I am thought to be prudish, harsh, not understanding, judgmental and "unchristian." Just so you know: I get tired of being tolerant! When I call for believers to pursue purity I am following orders from the One who has called you and me to be holy! Pursuing purity isn’t optional for a believer!
Pursuing purity doesn’t come naturally therefore we need instruction. Pursuing purity isn’t an option therefore we need to obey the commands. Finally, pursuing purity as a believer places me in the center of God’s highest passion for my life. (I Thess. 4:3). Let’s finish where we began: God wants, his highest passion, is for you and me to be holy, to be fully and completely free from anything that doesn’t reflect the image of Jesus. Another translation says, "For this is the will of God…." God wills, desires, longs, purposes, intends for us to be people who pursue purity. When we understand why he wants this for us and then we choose to join him in this pursuit within us, we place ourselves in the center of his highest passion for us.
Do you know what my greatest joy is as a parent? It is not so much my children doing what I tell them to do. No, it is when they do what I believe they should do because it is their choice. It is those little glimpses where you see the reflection of your values and convictions that have become their own that bring you joy. Now you just think if that brings me delight as a human parent think of the infinite joy God has when we choose for ourselves his highest passion for us! When we choose to pursue purity in our life then we are placing ourselves in the center of what brings God the greatest pleasure. I cannot think of anything greater that I could do with my life than to bring God that kind of delight. For I know when I am in the center of his will then that releases me to find fulfillment in my own life.
So here is the principle once again: Pursuing purity is a choice that moves beyond exclusion to embrace God’s highest passion for each believer. Let me ask you:
For some, that pursuit may be radical. For others, it may mean some adjustments. In either case, I can’t embrace God’s highest passion until I choose to exclude what is lowest in me. That may be painful and tearful but if it is God’s will for me, isn’t it what is best? Today, believers, may we join God as he pursues purity in your life and mine.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor
First Baptist Church
Jonesboro, Arkansas