Main Idea: Pursuing purity is a choice that moves beyond exclusion to embrace God’s highest passion for each believer.

This morning we continue our study of "Pursuing Purity" from I Thessalonians 4:1-8. Last week we talked about the principle upon which the pursuit of purity is based when we examined Paul’s words in verse 3 and 7. There he said, "God wants you to be holy…" (v. 3) and "God has called us to be holy…" (v. 7) We said that our being "holy" is God’s highest passion for us. It is something he wants, wills, desires, purposes and intends. Our being "holy" means that there is nothing in my life that distorts the reflection of Jesus Christ through me. We said the principle for pursuing purity is that it is God’s great passion for each believer to fully reflect the image of Jesus Christ both now and forever.

Paul started the pursuit of purity for the Thessalonians by targeting the exclusion of sexual sin. Remember, we said that sexual sin was the gratification of sexual desire outside the boundary of marriage between a man and a woman. We said that this exclusion isn’t something that comes naturally so we need instruction (v. 1). It also isn’t optional but something we need to obey (v. 2). All that leads us back to where we started and that is that when I make the choice to relentlessly pursue purity in my life then that immediately places me in the center of God’s highest passion for me as his child.

The question naturally comes, though, as to "how do you do this?" How do you pursue purity as a believer when the sheer weight and volume of sexual impurity and temptation is so overwhelming in our culture? As I said last week, I don’t have a neat packaged answer. That doesn’t mean you throw up your hands and give up. It also doesn’t mean that the culture is the whole problem. The influence is overpowering but for me to blame the culture without owning my share of the responsibility for myself is an excuse not a reason. The challenge for us is to move beyond confusion, guilt and regret to having the tools we need for pursuing purity as a believer in a sex-driven society. That’s why this morning we want to talk about the process for pursuing purity in our lives.

After stating the principle for pursuing purity Paul immediately moves to how to do that by defining three ideas that are the process to accomplish our pursuit of purity. He declares in I Thess. 4:4 that pursuing purity, first, will mean choosing to control my own actions and thoughts. (I Thess. 4:4). The NLT makes it sound like if you "keep clear of all sexual sin" then you will naturally control your body and live in a way that is both holy and honors God. A better translation is found in the NASV and the NIV that says, "that each of you know how (or learn) to possess (or control) his own vessel (or body)." The idea is that there are certain skills that need to be learned if we are going to pursue purity. It is implied that this knowledge is going to come not from the culture but from God’s Spirit instructing the believer.

He says that not only is pursuing purity something that is to be learned through instruction; it is also a choice that requires discipline. He uses the word "control," which means "to gain mastery over." Over what are we to gain mastery? Paul says it is our "body," which includes my thoughts and my actions. It encompasses what my body sees, what my body hears, what my body touches, what my body feels and what my body thinks. I do not commit or participate in sexual sin without both my mind and my body playing a part. Someone can say, "It happened before I knew it!" No, the truth is you knew it a long time before it happened. Our bodies do not react or respond without our mind giving them permission.

I admit to you that your choosing to control your thoughts and actions is not what our culture teaches. The media portrays normal sexual expression as our releasing ourselves to what our bodies want. You would imagine that the only story line or plot of any form of popular media has something to do with responding to whatever our bodies demand. Yet the believer is called upon to do just the opposite and that is to make the choice to control our own body!

The question comes, though, "Why? Why are we to do this?" Honestly we need to admit that if you just qualify being chaste physically as the goal then you don’t really need God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. There are persons who chose for a variety of reasons to avoid sexual impurity, who are chaste, who live happy monogamous lives and they are not believers. There has to be a higher reason, a greater purpose for pursuing purity than merely excluding the physical.

That’s why Paul goes on to say, "…control your body and live in holiness and honor." This defines the measure or goal for which a believer is to aim. It means that I am living my life in such a way that God and others see my purity and the respect I have for God, others and myself. When I have this as my goal, it keeps my focus on something higher and greater than just refusing immediate physical satisfaction. When self-denial is the only goal then we get into a game of seeing how far we can go without crossing a certain physical line. The real question is, instead, how radically can I pursue God’s highest passion of purity in my life!

To nail this down more practically, it means, for instance, to a single person or teenage person living by "the tomorrow principle." Dawn Eden, in her book The Thrill of the Chaste—Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On, says that the tomorrow principle is a choice a person makes that looks at a decision not based on immediate gratification but the impact that a decision has for the future. She says, "The tomorrow principle requires that vision to be able to see how chastity will help me become the strong, sensitive, confident woman I long to be…I long with all my heart to be able to look beyond my immediate desires, conducting myself with the grace and wisdom that will ultimately bring me fulfillment not just for a night, but for a lifetime." (Eden, p. 6). She goes on to say, "If you have to ask someone if he will still love you tomorrow then he doesn’t love you tonight."

God is interested in the lifetime and the time beyond this life when it comes to our pursuit of purity. He wants every one of our "tomorrows" to be filled with holiness and honor. That choice for tomorrow begins now for each of us as we choose to control our actions and our thoughts by the power of God’s Spirit at work in our lives.

The next thing Paul says is that pursuing purity will mean choosing to live in contrast to my culture. (I Thess. 4:5). He tells the Thessalonians that they are "to live in holiness and honor," which is in contrast to those without Christ who live by what he calls "lustful passion." Either one of these words would have been enough to define the contrast but by Paul’s combining them he is defining for us the intensity or the extreme to which a person without Christ acts in contrast to the way a Christian lives. The word "passion" means uncontrollable, compelling desires, feelings or urges. The word "lustful" means an out of control craving. He is describing a person who is driven by their own desires with such intensity that they have lost control.

Why do they do that? Paul says they do it out of an ignorance of God’s desires and standards. That is why he is taking such pains to explain to the Thessalonians the contrast their lives are to have compared to those who don’t know Christ. Why do people in our culture do that now? Why is the proliferation of pornography, especially on the Internet, such a problem? Why is our culture so absorbed with sexual matters? It is because people without God or we might say "godless" are being driven by desires over which they have totally lost all control.

What does our godless culture say about sexual desires? It says that it is perfectly normal and acceptable to act on sexual desires, especially if you are single and as long as you are safe. It says that it is abnormal and even destructive to resist such desires, especially if you are doing so for moral reasons. It says that deferring pleasure makes no sense. One person says, "We all have to choose two ways of being crazy: the foolishness of the Gospel and the non-sense values from our world." (Rumors of Another World" by Phillip Yancey, P. 87) So if you are a believer God’s word admonishes us to choose to be considered crazy by our culture and pursue purity.

Let’s ask this question though: How much do the ideas of our own godless culture control our own thinking and behavior as believers? Can a person from "the other side" look at our lives and see a marked contrast? Here’s the thing I know and you know: it has invaded our way of life far more than we are willing to admit. I recognize that making deliberate decisions to live in contrast to our culture will get you labeled and make other Christians uncomfortable. You may be thought of as judgmental or not accepting of "the way things really are." Yet all it takes is one courageous person—boy, girl, teenager, university student, single or married person—to pursue purity with the relentless passion God desires to break free from the control of our culture. It takes discipline to control your body but it takes courage to stand against your culture. If you are going to pursue purity then it will mean a choice to live in contrast to our culture.

There’s one last thing that Paul addresses that is needed to pursue purity. It is that pursuing purity will mean choosing to act with integrity in my relationships with others (v. 6-8). A better way to translate the first part of verse 6 is "that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter…." Other translations focus on the idea of adultery. The words Paul uses, "transgress" and "defraud" are really commercial business terms and mean: "crossing a forbidden boundary that doesn’t belong to you." Here is what he means by this: the area of sexual purity is so sacred and holy that when a person uses sexuality in any manner toward anyone not their spouse or to create desire you know is sin, it is as if you have trespassed on someone else’s property. It is acting in such a way in a relationship with another person, especially another Christian, that crosses a line that you know is forbidden.

You see there is one huge assertion that Paul is making here and it is that as a Christian our bodies are the residence of the Holy Spirit and because of that God sets a "No Trespassing" sign around each of us. He said in I Cor. 6:19-20, "Or don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body." Our bodies, until we are married, ultimately belong to God. After we are married they are shared with our husband or wife. Anyone who tries to cross the line that God has established in order to gratify themselves is stepping into forbidden territory!

How do we cross that forbidden territory that God has established around someone who is not our spouse? I believe it mainly occurs in our communication and our appearance. If you are communicating verbally, electronically, visually or physically in such a way that creates desire for sexual gratification on any level, then you are stepping into forbidden territory. I know that both men and women flirt at work, school or other places where they interact. Know, though, that when you do and in whatever manner you do it, you are crossing a line. Young ladies and ladies, when you expose your body in such a way that it creates attention and desire, then know you are crossing a line into forbidden territory. Dawn Eden advises women to dress in such a way that strengthens your beauty but retains mystery.

A believer on the other hand is someone who has integrity enough to respect the boundaries of other people. They will choose not to communicate in any fashion that creates desire for themselves or in other people. They are people who know that a holy, pure, sinless God has brought you salvation through his holy, pure, sinless Son who has placed within you his holy, pure, sinless Holy Spirit in order to produce holy, pure, sinless people. Therefore anything they need to do to maintain that, they are going to do especially in relationships with other people. They are people so committed to acting with integrity with others that they know and respect the boundaries God has placed around another’s body. They will choose to not cross into forbidden territory.

Why must I be a person who acts with such high integrity? Paul gives us three reasons in verses 6-8. First, I must act with integrity with others because I am accountable to God (v. 6b). Paul says, "The Lord (meaning Jesus Christ) avenges all such sins." Now let me say that I am not going to try to define all the ways this can happen but it simply means I will pay a price for anything less than acting with sexual integrity. I am accountable to God to act with integrity. Second, if I choose to act without sexual integrity then I violate God’s purpose for me (v. 7). God’s purpose for me is to reflect Jesus Christ and respect his boundaries. When I don’t do this, then I am violating his desire for me. Thirdly, if I choose to act without sexual integrity, I wound God’s Spirit within me. (v. 8). The way this last verse was originally written it says, "The Spirit, the holy," emphasizing the purity of God’s Spirit within us. Then when I choose to act without sexual integrity I am rejecting God’s purpose and crushing God’s Holy Spirit within me.

Too often when we are tempted by sexual sin, we think, "God knows I’m weak and I’ll just ask forgiveness later." Yet the Bible "solemnly" warns us about the dangers of all sexual sin. Jesus doesn’t give out free passes. God doesn’t lower his standards. His Spirit within us isn’t indifferent. Today, if you find yourself caught up in any kind of sexual impurity, then stop it now! That is God’s word and warning to each of us!

Today, my friends, God’s highest passion for you is to reflect Jesus Christ fully and freely. Will you embrace for yourselves that great desire and relentlessly pursue purity? Will you do that by choosing to control your thoughts and actions with the Holy Spirit’s discipline? Will you do that courageously, choosing to live in contrast to your culture? Will you do that by choosing to act with integrity, respecting the boundaries of others?

As most of you know, our daughter and son-in-law were victims of Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. When we moved them to New Orleans in July of 2004 it took the biggest U-Haul we could find. When we moved them back we used the smallest one they made. Occasionally I think about the stuff we left behind—most of it ruined by water and mold, some because it wasn’t essential and wouldn’t fit on the truck. I think about those things and wish we could have saved them. From time to time they think about that also but not often. They don’t live in the past because the present and the future are so absolutely satisfying. They have left some stuff behind and have moved toward God’s fresh purpose for them.

If you are a person who has struggled with failure in the area of pursuing sexual purity, then today I am begging you to leave it behind and move toward God’s highest passion for you. It’s time to leave the secrets, shame, regret, guilt and blame and move toward God. You can’t fix the past. It can only be redeemed by God’s grace. God’s highest passion for you is to pursue purity with discipline, courage and integrity. Will you start moving toward him today?

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org

Resources:

The Thrill of the Chaste—Finding Fulfillment While Keeping Your Clothes On by Dawn Eden (Excellent for females 18 and up)

When Godly People Do Ungodly Things by Beth Moore

Rumors of Another World by Phillip Yancey

Abstaining from Sexual Sin – Part 2 by John MacArthur