[These are notes taken during the session, not the message itself.]
1 Thessalonians
Paul’s compliment V.1:3
Work of faith
Labor of love
Steadfastness of hope
They were a young church, but he could already say these things of them
He hears from other churches of what they do
We should be surprised therefore by the rebuke in chapter 4
Chapter 4 implies they have a need for spiritual growth
A need for protecting themselves for the long run
This involves a central truth that we are not careful enough about
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
With temptations all around us in the world, Paul’s exhortation is very pertinent to us
The Thessalonians are striving to be like Christ and are hungering for him
But they must be careful in this area
Sanctification
He could talk about past or future sanctification
But he chooses to talk about present
The will of god is your sanctification
He wants you to be set apart for his use only
He will lead you in the paths of righteousness
He brings out a particularly difficult area of sanctification – sexuality
You need to understand the struggle
You need to understand how you are lead astray
King David’s example
A man after god’s own heart
Even after being warned about who she is,
God wants us to be pure and help us be pure
Hold yourself completely aloof from these situations
Set up boundaries for yourself
v.4 Each of you…(text)
vessel – euphemism for the body
2 Tim. 2:21
Romans 1:24
We need to understand how we work, how we are tempted in order to abstain from sin
We need to understand in general how your gender works, and how you yourself operate
Compartmentalization – What you do on Saturday has nothing to do with what you do on Sunday morning
But god is telling us to grow in all aspects of out lives, not just in compartmentalized sections – including our sexuality
“Be careful little eyes what you see”
v. 7-8 (text)
1 Corinthians 6 – our bodies are temples of the holy spirit
We must learn about ourselves
Sense our needs
Sense our weaknesses
Protect ourselves
Why do we allow ourselves to even be in situations where we know we will be tempted?
To abstain is to keep away from it completely
We ought not say to ourselves that we can get as close to the edge as possible and then say we can walk away
The question is not “how far can I go?” but “how should I act?”
So many of us say to ourselves say “I want as much as I can possibally have up to the line” but we don’t ask “is this what god wants for us?”
We might be doing well in many areas just as the Thessalonians were, but we might still ruin it all by falling into sexual sin
2 Timothy 2 – god wants us to be useful and available to him
It was a lie of Satan to say to eve ‘eat of the fruit and then you will know the difference between good and evil’
If we want to know what the will of god is for our lives, this is it:
1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor”
The Emmaus Blog Staff
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