1Th 4:2 -8 “2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honourable, 5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no-one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.”

We have asked the question: Do you want to please God in your life? When Paul addresses the Thessalonians in chapters 4 and 5, he tells them what he would have taught them if he had been allowed to stay longer than three weeks. What he would have taught them was what he had taught them during that three-week period of time: Live to please God.

The process of living to please God is called sanctification. The root word in sanctification is the Greek word for holiness. Sanctification is the process of becoming holy.

Holiness in the Bible has two parts. First, we are set apart for God. Second, we are set apart from everything that does not have God’s approval. It is this second part that brings us to the topic of the day.

If we are set apart from everything that does not have God’s approval, we are set apart from sin, from ungodly ideas, from ungodly practices. In other words, we will be different. God wants us to be different.

In order for us to be different, we need something to compare ourselves to. If I only have one item, it cannot be different until I bring in a second item.

For example, I cannot say that a hymnbook is different. I can only say that if I add a second item. I can say that a hymnbook is different from a Bible. Or I cannot say that a pew is different. I can only say that a pew is different than a window. Now the sentence makes sense.

So if we follow God, what are we different from? You will be different from the world and society around you. You will not think like everyone else, you will not approve of what everyone else approves, you will not live like the world around you. Why? Because you will not do what the world does when the world does not do what pleases God.

What God does is bring us into his presence, make us like his son Jesus and in so doing, makes us different from the world around us.

So what are some areas in which God wants us to be different?

One area that Paul highlights is this: God wants us to be different in our sexual choices.

Sexual immorality was prevalent in the Roman Empire. Men and women were often given arranged marriages. The woman was given privilege and her children would be the natural recipient of any legal claim to position, power or money that would be associated with their father. But on the side, both men and women would often consort with prostitutes, slaves, other men and women in sexually immoral relationships. However, the society did not find these things to be wrong. Julian, one of the Caesars, tried to write laws forbidding adultery but wasn’t very successful.

The Thessalonian church was made up of people who had been saved out of a sexually permissive and promiscuous society. Paul comes to them and says, “I taught you to live to please God. God wants you to please him with your sexual choices. ”

First, every Christian should avoid sexual immorality. The Greek word here is “fornication.” This is a technical phrase for the Jewish person. They would be thinking of the list found in Leviticus 18. The list includes incest, adultery, homosexuality and bestiality.

In Leviticus 18 just before the list, the Lord says, Le 18:1 -5 “1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘I am the LORD your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. 5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.”

I believe that Paul had this passage in mind. Our sanctification, our holiness, our separation from the world around us will lead us to take a different moral ground than society at large. If you want to please God, you must follow his teaching concerning what is sexually right and wrong.

We have heard, “Be ye holy, as the Lord your God is holy.”

The church at Jerusalem may be responsible for the emphasis that Paul puts on this. Ac 15:22 -29 “22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, two men who were leaders among the brothers. 23 With them they sent the following letter: The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. 24 We have heard that some went out from us without our authorisation and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. 25 So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul-- 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. 28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

Avoid sexual immorality.

Second, every Christian should control their own body.

The KJV uses the word “vessel” in verse 4 which is a more accurate translation of the word. In the NIV we have the word “own body” because many Greeks use this word for vessel to describe the body. But in 1 Peter 3:7, the wife is called a vessel and in 2 Thessalonians 2:21, the man himself is called a vessel. I lean toward the 2 Thessalonians passage, because it’s written by the same man Paul, to the same people, the Thessalonians with the same theme, holiness. 2Ti 2:21 “21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” The word “instrument” is the same word “vessel” used in 1 Thessalonians 4:4.

This teaching goes against what you hear in culture. The world around us says, “You cannot control your own body.” Mark Regenerus, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas said this in the August edition of Christianity Today, “…over 90 percent of American adults experience sexual intercourse before marrying. The percentage of evangelicals who do so is not much lower. In a nationally representative study of young adults, just under 80 percent of unmarried, church–going, conservative Protestants who are currently dating someone are having sex of some sort.” I will tell you this. If these percentages are right, then you will be different if you live to please God!

But you can control your own body! The Bible tells us we can. The testimony of many people who waited for marriage before having a sexual relationship says it is possible. You hear people say things like, “Things got out of hand and something just happened.” If you were walking by a building and a brick fell on your head, you could say, “It just happened.” Or you could be like my nephew. He was driving down the road and a moose ran into his truck. It just happened.

But there are several steps that precede immorality. There are several warning signs before you reach a point of no return.

The world around you might make fun of you if you follow what I say. At a men’s retreat at New Brunswick Bible Institute, the speaker made an observation that I have never thought of before. He told the men that were gathered, “I have no fear that any of you will drive down the road, pick up a woman and enter into an immoral relationship with her. That is not how it is done. If often starts with innocence, a conversation, then moves to some mutual issue, a common problem or experiences, a seeking each other out, touching and hugging, then deeper intimacy.” You see, things don’t “just happen.” Every couple that is dating should have clear lines where they are saying, “No!” These lines should be placed well before sexual intercourse. You know when your mind and body are starting to think in these areas. At this very beginning state is when the battle is won, it is not won when the clothes are off. You can control your own body.

Notice verse 5 shows this differentness. We should not be like the world exploding in passionate lust. I will tell you this. If someone loves you, they will respect you enough to wait. If they cannot wait, it is because they are self-centered and care only about themselves. God wants us to be different from the world. He wants us to be under control.

Third, no Christian should wrong his brother. 6 and that in this matter no-one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him.

How does a Christian wrong his brother? The word “wrong” has the idea of passing over a boundary that one should never go over. It has the idea of trespassing.

What are some lines that are crossed that wrong a brother?

Stealing a wife is certainly crossing a line.

Let me be clear on this. If you want to please God, do not do anything to help break up a marriage.

The world says this, “If the woman is unhappy or the man is unhappy in the marriage and are going to get a divorce anyway, the marriage is over in reality even if it is not finished in the courts, therefore, entering a new relationship is ok and even to be commended if you are helping someone get over a bad relationship.”

To which God says, “That’s not my way!” Now I want to be clear on this. I am only talking to people who want to please God. If you want to please God, don’t go after married people. If their divorce is along Biblical grounds, do not initiate any kind of signals that would draw them further and faster away from their spouse.

Jesus spoke on this. Mt 19:5 -6 “5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.””

How does a man separate a man and his wife? By entering into a sexual relationship. By encouraging him or her to walk away. By making promises for the future.

1 Thess. 4:6b…The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

So why does the text focus on the brother who is wronged and not the wife? Easy answer. The woman is assumed to be a willing partner in Paul’s example. She also bears some responsibility. They may want the relationship. They may want to nice shoulder to cry on. But when you are the one who provides it, you are the one who is taking advantage of the situation for your own good. You are wronging the person who is not involved, the brother in this case.

I have a warning for you if you get involved in this. God will punish men for all such sins. The world may do it, but the Christian needs to step up and be different. As Christians we are not called to this kind of life. We are not called to immorality. We are not called to break up marriages. We are called to holiness.

8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.”

This is sobering. You may not like what I have said today. You may be seething underneath. You may feel condemned and feel that we are being judgmental. But all of this is a cover-up for the fact that you have sinned.

What you need to do is to come clean before God. You need to confess your sins. You need to realize that through Jesus there is forgiveness.

But if you walk out of here in the hardness of your heart and reject what I have said, verse 8 tells us that you are not rejecting me, but you are rejecting God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

If doing what is right makes me different, then I want to be different. If doing what is right pleases God, then I want to please God.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus. You soldier of the cross. Put on the royal armour, you must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory. His army shall he lead. Till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed!