A Sermon
J. Davila-Ashcraft
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 your own body[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. - I
Thessalonians 4:3-7
Paul
is writing here to the Christians in Thessalonica who were surrounded by the
influences of their previous pagan lifestyles, which included religious
practices that made sexual immorality a sacrament. It was a normal practice to
have sex with temple prostitutes and even for husbands and wives to engage in
adultery as a common practice. And while we don't have quite the same culture
today, we're not very far from it.
However, you
can lead a sexually pure life.
How
do I do so?
I.
Consecration
The
word “sanctification” is from the Greek word hagiasmos, meaning “holiness” and
“purity of life”.
•
Does this purity just happen or do we have to
actively seek it and do something?
Sanctification
itself, though a unique work of God, requires something of us. It requires we
make the effort to cease doing evil, and learn to do good. In other words, your
part in your sanctification is that you subdue the unholy habits in your life
and cultivate principles of holiness. This is essentially consecration.
•
When you hear the word consecration, what
comes to mind?
Consecration
is an action.
•
Exodus 13:2- “Consecrate to me all the
firstborn.”
•
Exodus 19:10- The Lord said to Moses, 'Go to the
people and consecrate them...
•
Exodus 19:22- Also, let the priests who come
near to the Lord consecrate themselves..
•
Exodus 22:31- You shall be consecrated to me.
•
John 17:19- And for their sake I consecrate
myself.. (Even Jesus consecrated himself!)
It is
more than merely a mental assent, or praying a prayer once and being done with
it. It is like an athlete training for any given sport. The athlete can't
simply say he or she is going to win a gold medal and then sit back on the
couch and hope to make that happen without action. The athlete has to train.
And training is sometimes difficult. It hurts.
Likewise
consecration is action, on an inner level as well as external. You see, the
spiritual life is real. It isn't just concepts tossed on a page and packaged as
suggestions. Consecration is real and you have to put it into action, otherwise
you will fail and may even walk away thinking it's impossible, or that God
somehow failed you. That isn't the case at all. The only failure is that you
failed to follow up on scriptural admonitions with affirmative action.
I
once saw a hidden camera show where they would secretly follow husbands who
were away on business trips at the request of their wives, hoping to find any
evidence of infidelity. And as you might expect this show found more than
enough evidence that I'm sure destroyed a few marriages. One husband was quite
interesting though. The program followed him to the hotel restaurant where he
sat at a bar eating his dinner alone. They sent in a decoy- a beautiful blonde
model- to tempt him to sin. She flirted, and
cooed at him; was provocative and finally asked him to go back to her
room with her. The husband looked up from his dinner and said, “You're a pretty
girl, but I'm married and I love my wife, so no thanks.” I have no idea whether
this husband was a Christian or not, but he certainly exemplified control of
his own body and implied he understood at least a basic concept of
consecration. He could have done exactly what the Apostle tells us not to do.
He could have taken advantage of this woman. He could have defrauded his
brother. What is it to defraud someone? Simply put, it is to take something
that doesn't belong to you. That woman in the hotel wasn't his wife. She might have
been someone else's wife, or in the future she will get married and this
husband will have defrauded her future husband of a part of her that was
intended for him alone. But he didn't. You see, he demonstrated his commitment
to controlling passion and lust for a higher good. He understood the sanctity
of his marriage covenant. He had consecrated himself to his wife. And you can
do the same. You can lead a sexually pure life.
II. Take Your Thoughts Captive
To
maintain this state of consecration and avoid sexual immorality we can do many
things.
We
can get accountability partners, memorize scripture, get rid of occasions of
sin in your life, such as computers, certain television programming, etc.
However, the most important place to begin is in the mind- your thoughts.
II
Corinthians 10:5 states, “..we take captive every thought to make it
obedient to Christ.”
There
are a variety of things we can do to “take our thoughts captive”, which is
where the battleground for sexual immorality (indeed all sin) begins. We need
to pay careful attention to our thoughts. There is a process to a thought
taking root. Sinful thoughts begin as mere suggestions. They can arise from our
own frailties and failings, or they can even be suggested to us by the
Adversary. Then the thought will proceed to a conversation, where an interest
arises in you for that thought. Then you move to acceptance of the thought,
followed by captivity to the thought which ultimately leads to manifestation of
the sin suggested. You see, sin requires no effort on your part whatsoever,
only that you passively accept the initial suggestion, rather than actively
rejecting it through consecration.
•
Consecration then implies we abandon any sense
of being a victim of sin. We are not simply prey, unable to help ourselves. You
are perfectly able, with the grace of God to live a sexually pure life.
Consecration works hand in hand with God's part of the equation, which is
sanctification. When we actively engage ourselves in consecration, God will,
through the sacrifice of Christ, make us “set apart” unto Himself.
•
This is not talking about salvation by works.
Quite the contrary. The point in observing your thoughts is that it reveals you
cannot trust in yourself. You must trust in God alone. This is the entire
reason consecration is so necessary.
•
Consecration is not a comfortable, passive life.
It isn't a life where you attend church, pay tithes, maybe have a few spiritual
highs here and there with no real demand on you or any substantial
responsibility. It is a fundamental change in how we approach God, so that He
is at the center and our goal is ever deeper communion with Him.
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