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Just as an FYI this teaching is pre-recorded as I am helping to move our youngest back from school.
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So last week we read in 1st Thessalonians 4:3 the following and talked quite a bit about it – especially in the Q and A as Paul said to the believers then:
1st Thessalonians 4.3-end
Pre-recorded July 30th 2020
Aired August 2nd 2020
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3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor;
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
8 He therefore that despiseth (despises this command we have given), despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
Let’s quickly rework through verse three where Paul said
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
Remember, the bride had to be holy and pure, without spot or wrinkle, and the call to holiness is frankly upon all of God’s Children.
In that day the directive was really specific – avoid fornication, especially in connection with idol worship.
When we think about it, fornication today in a Christians life continues to be a form of Idol worship as the Christian participants say, in effect:
My sexual involvement with this individual is more important that my relationship with God. God has told us to avoid it, but I am choosing to engage with a fallible human being instead of to hear his command.
The fact of the matter is, in reality, that our flesh is stronger than our spirit, and as humans will do, we feed, the needs and wants of our flesh OVER the Spirits directives to abstain.
By summarizing this down in this way we can then address the issue with the true antidote – feeding the spirit! And we talked about this as the antidote last week rather than just spouting off to everyone:
Don’t have sex! Sex is evil! You are bad!
The demand for Holiness of the Saints then is present and cannot be avoided if you are a serious student of scripture. And we talked about why this was the case then in the early apostolic church – because they were Jesus bride!
But the call to holiness remains in the lives of all sons and daughters today. The question is what is the best means to bring this holy state ultimately about in the lives of God’s children.
Is it the Law, discipline, judgment and the anger of Man? I suggest that in this age, which is different in methods than in that age, that the Spirit is the way and means to holiness, and that the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE . . . AS IT IS DEFINED IN SCRIPTURE – which is patient, kind, longsuffering, merciful, and never fails.
So, let’s just put this to an example.
Let’s compare two ways we can approach believers who are not living holy lives.
The Religious Way or the Relational Way by and through the Spirit.
A congregate comes to their pastor and says:
I am fornicating with my neighbor, I am sleeping with my best friend’s husband, I am addicted to porn.
Depending on the denom and frankly the pastor, the reactions to this typically include:
1. You need to stop – now. YOU need to STOP
2. YOU need to pay – to be disciplined – especially if you don’t stop now, by the church.
(Which may mean)
– excommunication from the group or some other discipline. (And . . .)
3. You need to show contrition. (And)
4. And in some cases, you need to confess this to the church.
The basis for these things are because of passages in the New Testament where the apostles are, in fact, guiding the bride in and through similar channels of correction.
Often in the religious approach, the pastor will engage in deep weekly counseling with the congregate, mandatorily.
Then once the congregate has overcome their sin, stopping it all together, shows contrition, and makes all the steps possible to bring about reconciliation with offended parties, they will be absolved of their crime and received back into fellowship – to some degree or another, again depending on the denom.
I have to emphasize that THIS is the way religions do it because they take the New Testament and apply what was happening then with the Apostles and the Bride to the present.
AGAIN – Why WAS this approach present in the New Testament church?
Again, Jesus was coming to take his bride and she, because she was going to be HIS BRIDE, culled from dedicated believers out of the Nation of Israel and gentiles moved upon by the Holy Spirit, and she represented Holiness by and through literal actual insufferable dedication to Him – which he demanded.
All you have to do is read Jesus’ words to the Seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 to understand this.
However, this approach was also POSSIBLE because there were
1. Living apostles, called by Christ himself, who were witnesses of His resurrection AND were filled with the POWER of God to discern and guide His church so that the GATES Of HELL would NOT EVER PREVAIL AGAINST HER. (Also)
2. The bride and church was small enough to be managed and overseen as I would believe most converts from Jesus death to the destruction of Israel were known by name and personally by the elders who governed them.
3. This set up, this bride, was only possible in the times of the Apostolic age!
And once Israel was destroyed, God himself instituted the age to come, the age of fulfillment, where the following, ACCORDING to HIM and HIS WORDS,
would be instituted – where HE SAID:
1. That He would write His laws upon the hearts and minds of individuals and they would individually become his Sons and Daughters.
2. That everything else that could be shaken – first the temple, and genealogies and priesthoods and men and their religions (including ministries and churches and denoms and the institutional attempts at keeping Church alive) would be shaken so that NOTHING would remain on earth (relative to His Kingdom) except unshakeable principles – which come by the Spirit. (Don’t believe this read Hebrews chapter 12 in total)
Therefore we are left with the faith operating by and through something different than what once was.
How would I go about counseling a person who comes to me and says that they have a problem with fornication, adultery and the like?
With the principles of Agape love – patience, longsuffering, forgiveness, kindness, non-judgement and allowing the Spirit of God, which governs the lives of believers, to work.
Why?
Because GOD himself set this system and approach up. He established it entirely!
Men have ignored the passages that describe this system altogether, as well as the substantiated doctrines of eschatology, and have attempted for 2000 years have tried to replicate what they read in the new Testament, but what we read has NEVER work on a large scale, leads to legalisms, drives sinners from the pews, and makes the rest of us liars and hypocrites, which usurps the work and power of the Holy Spirit to do its work among us.
But MOST of all, the religious approach rarely changes the heart and will of Man.
So, a person comes and says, I am doing this or that?
I would say, Wait, who’s doing this or that?”
And they would say, “I am doing this or that?”
And I would say, “Are you a Christian?”
And they would say, “Yes.”
And I would say, “Do you understand that as a Christian you are a new creation and all things become new, and that it is impossible for you to sin as a Christian? So is it you the Christian that is doing this or that?”
And they would flounder probably. And then I would cite Paul’s own words written as an apostle when he said in Romans chapter seven the following:
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.
17 So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me.
18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me.
21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self,
23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.
24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
And I would ask, after having read this to them:
“So who or what is fornicating, or sleeping with their neighbor or watching porn?”
And they would have to say: “My flesh.”
And I would say, “are YOU your flesh
(Which is going to die and erode and go to the grace) or are you a New Creation that is going to go to God when you die?
Which is going to live on?
And they would say, “my flesh is going to die and erode away forever and my spirit is going to go to God.”
And I would say, “So then what you are having trouble with is the power of your temporal flesh OVER you as a new creation in Christ.
And they would say, “I suppose so.”
And then I would make this VERY VERY CLEAR TO THEM:
“So when you say that YOU are doing this or that, I want you to understand that what you are really saying is that you have allowed your flesh, which is your former person, which houses your Spirit, to reign over what Christ gave you – your new life, your new heart, your new mind and spirit.
And I would say, say it.
And they would say:
“I have allowed my flesh, which is my former person and should be dead, to reign over what Christ has given me – which is my new identity.”
And with that I would say:
“So then, what is the solution to this disparity that exists between your new creation and your mortal flesh?”
And they might say, I have to change and I have to really work hard to overcome my flesh, and (if its porn) they would say I need an accountability partner, and (if its sex) they would say, I have to just break it off, and in they end they would probably say that they have to repent.”
And I would stop them and say:
Repentance best means “a change of mind.” And I would ask, “In your Christian mind (which God gave you at rebirth) haven’t you always known what you are doing is wrong? Even before you did it? Haven’t you known, by the Spirit which abides in your new identity given you by Christ, that what you were going to do was wrong?”
And if they were honest they would have to say, “yes.”
And I would say, “of course YOU YOU knew it was wrong! Your mind given you by Christ is not the issue. It does not need to be changed. It has already changed. And then I would remind them that they had already repented, in the true sense of the world, when they came to Christ.
The trouble, I would say, is that their flesh has not agreed with their mind or their real, new identity in Christ. Instead, their flesh has exercised its strength and rode roughshod over what their true identity which is in Him.
So again, I would ask them:
“What does a Christian do?”
And if they are catching on they would come to the conclusion that the need to fortify and feed and nourish who they really are – spirit. That they need to know that when the Spirit is strong and reigning over them the flesh does not stand a change to do what the flesh does.
And I would remind them that the flesh – what surrounds them and houses their new identity and is, in fact, headed to the grave, will never ever change.
It cannot be fixed and to never allow themselves to believe that what they were born with will ever be tamed.
It was an animal at birth and if and when given enough of a leash will do what it does – feed itself. So to focus ON the flesh THROUGH the flesh is a futile endeavor which may do SOME good, but it will never change the fleshly heart.
I would also remind the person that every person’s flesh on earth is tuned-in to specific sorts of crimes against God.
Some would never cheat on a spouse, but would gossip, some don’t gossip but love revenge. Some people abide in flesh that is capable of almost any type of evil – that’s me – but that their particular flesh failure or failures are no better or worse than ANY other – because all flesh stands in opposition to God.
So again, sister, brother, my friend whom I love unconditionally and as you are, even as a fornicator, adulterer, porn fiend – just like Jesus has loved me as I am, how should YOU respond to YOUR situation?
And hopefully they would come to some of the following conclusions:
They ought to sit back and talk with God – honestly. They ought to tell him that their flesh is strong and has taken hold; that in their flesh they are enjoying their sin, that they like the sex with someone not their spouse – or whatever it is.
The Father of their SPIRITS can take it- so be honest. But first get God in the mix.
Then hopefully they will ultimately see the benefit of feeding their spirit, renewing their new mind and heart that God has given them by the washing of the Word and what it says.
That engaging with people who strive to live by the Spirit instead of the flesh may benefit them as well.
And I would tell them to relax, to remember that the sins of the flesh have been paid for by Christ who loved us – who loves her or him – and that in gratitude for this love given to all Christians can will and do change – by His might, and His power, and His goodness.
And I would pray with them, follow up with them every now and then, letting them know I cared and loved them, and would wait for the LORD (by His Spirit) to move them, knowing that all things work for Good for those who love Him.
The only exception I have ever taken to this approach (and by the way it was this approach which I self-imposed when religion would not do it that changed me that got me away from my flesh) but the only exception I have ever taken to this approach was when non-consenting parties are involved (children or depradations on the innocent). Then I will strongly counsel the person to explain their behavior to a spouse (because of the inherent dangers to them) and when children are involved I have called the police.
Religion and its ways have never really worked effectively and when they have it was in the time when the Spirit was abundant, apostles were present, and the body was small enough to be managed.
God knew this – and even all the way back in the Old Testament addressed what He would do once the former age and all that it was about was addressed by and through His Son.
Back to our text as Paul adds:
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.
A line that continues to be true – God seeks the sanctification of each of his Sons and Daughters, which comes by and through Him and His Spirit, moving us to grow and mature in the principles of His Kingdom and to refrain and die to the things of this world. (verse 4 because we covered the rest of three last week)
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.
Note the personal responsibility intrinsic to this passage:
That every ONE of YOU . . . should know HOW to possess HIS vessel IN sanctification and honor.
This knowledge, I submit, comes by and through the Spirit and an understanding of the Word and its application to our lives.
It is a subjectively applied knowledge but the knowledge is objectively delivered to all.
Truth is truth, but our interpretation and application of it to our respective lives can be different. That is why I think Paul makes the application of it so personal.
For instance, alcoholism is not a coveted condition in this life which is pretty much objectively agreed upon. Certainly, God would love to free all people from its clutches. And drinking alcohol goes hand in hand with alcoholism. But the drinking of alcohol is a very subjective and personal decision. This helps us understand God’s objective truths and our subjective response to them.
We discover in Paul’s words the onus on every person to discover how to possess his vessel (meaning our bodies) in sanctification and honor. This is a personal subjective application of knowledge.
But Paul adds the following as a means to narrow the field:
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
The term concupiscence is an old and big word and means “to long for something forbidden.” Anyone in lust for another human being (that they should not have lust for) understands the term.
It is the crime at the heart of adultery.
Paul here ties the state of mind to the “Gentiles” which know not God, referring specifically to the pagans and the pagan world.
If you have ever been tempted with adultery there are few better terms to describe it than “concupiscence” – “longing for something or someone that is forbidden.” (Verse 6)
6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
Because of the context I would suggest that we know what Paul is talking about here. Taking the passage all by itself it is sound advice, right?
“That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.”
But because he has mentioned fornication here, and “the lust of concupiscence” prior, I would suggest that Paul is talking about people going beyond their proper place and defrauding his neighbor in any matter, but specifically going beyond established boundaries and cheating his neighbor in relation to a spouse.
Because Paul says “in any matter” we could assume this includes in business and the like, but the context seems to specifically point to adultery.
He adds:
“because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.”
The word avenger means punisher – and this was what he was promised he would be upon His promised return – and that is what he was – both a rewarder and an avenger. And so in harmony with all of this Paul adds:
7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
Again, there is NO getting around the fact that this was the call on their lives, as Christians, in that day and at that time.
And as described, I submit the call continues but through different means.
Perhaps a simple explanation might help.
To the Nation of Israel, God would physically punish them for the sins of the flesh – as a nation.
When Jesus came to wrap that former age up, this response from God hung in the balance – and was promised to any and all who refused to receive him by faith, which means that they refused the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which means they roiled in the ways of their flesh.
For the early nascent church the setting for them was balanced between what was, and what was to come.
Once the wrath of God fell on those who refused to receive His Son by faith, and that former age was wrapped up entirely, we entered into this age of fulfillment.
Everything from the former age is over, fulfilled, complete with God reconciled to humankind.
But this does not mean that individuals are not accountable before their maker for how they choose to live – whether Christian or not.
When it comes to being Christian God hath not called us to uncleanness. He calls all who are His to Holiness – which is first meted out when the holiness of Christ is imputed to all believers through faith, and continues as believers allow Him through the Spirit to help them choose to overcome their flesh.
Paul now let’s us know the heart of those who reject these insights and says at verse 8
He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
The key to this passage is the last line in my estimation where, speaking of God, Paul says that he has “given us His holy Spirit,” which to me references that we are, in fact, in charge with God having given us His Holy Spirit.
Let’s read on at verse 9 which seems to throw us a curve-ball. Listen:
1st Thessalonians 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
Alright, back to nine and we will wrap our time up day covering it through verse 12. And what he writes at verse nine is interesting because he says:
But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
I say this passage is initially odd because Paul has warned them against lusting and fornication and mixing in with the ways of the Gentiles and then here in verse nine he provides an exception and says to them:
“But as touching brotherly love you need not that I write unto you for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another.”
“Whaaaaat?
The meaning seems to be that they were so taught of God by the Spirit with regard to the duty of brotherly love, that they did not need any more instruction.
So emphatic is this statement that Paul adds, “For ye yourselves are taught of God.”
This is a word (translated to taught of God) that does not occur anywhere else in the New Testament! And it appears to mean that God has actually taught their hearts to love this way.
And then he adds:
10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more.
But here is my question – Why are they in need of instruction and direction to avoid lusting heavily after what is not theirs (coveting really) and to avoid fornication (however we interpret this) but they are filled with BROTHERLY LOVE FROM GOD TO THE POINT THAT PAUL DOES NOT NEED TO EVEN ADDRESS THE SUBJECT WITH THEM!!!
(BEAT)
I have an insight – and we might even suggest that it is altogether weak, but it is a view that works – if you are willing.
In verses 3-6 we read
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor;
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
AND THEN CONVERSELY, PAUL ADDS:
“But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;”
If a person was so filled with brotherly love, would they ever defraud their brother of anything? No.
So we have to try and see that when Paul uses the words brother and brotherly love in these passages he is speaking of two different types of brothers, with the first referring (in the first set of passages) to not defrauding any brother in the brotherhood of MAN, and the second referring to the BROTHERLY love the believers had for those in the faith!
The term for brother is adelphos, a part of the term philos, meaning brotherly love.
That term can mean “distantly or literally,” but it is the same word for either application. Scripture speaks to the first type, as it says in
Malachi 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
And 1st Corinthians 8:6 says
But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
So I suggest, which is in harmony with my explanation of the context of fornication mentioned last week, that the warnings against lust and fornication were to the believers RELATIVE to the outside world and its inhabitants – that they needed to avoid engaging with the outside world in that way . . .
. . . but that among each other, brothers in the Spiritual sense, brother love, which would amount to not preying upon each other, abounded.
In verse 10 he does mention that while they were “great at loving each other” but that they might get better, abounding more and more is what he says, and with that in mind, he adds in verse 11
11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
Study to honor the quite or peaceful life.
And to do your own business – to attend to their own concerns, without interfering with the affairs of others (Advise he gives several times in scripture, including Philippians 2:4, 2nd Thessalonians 3:11; 1st Timothy 5:13; and 1st Peter 4:15).
“And to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,” is not found in Acts but does not mean he never gave them this instruction.
“To work with ones own hands” is not necessarily a command to manual labor but would mean to take the pressure off brothers to help support yourself, which would be a great act of brotherly love.
And he adds
12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
Which appears to suggest that by earning their own keep they would engage with none believers in an honest way while at the same time providing for their own needs (and therefore having a lack for nothing).
Next week Paul introduces a really important set of passages about the second coming – so Join us then.
Let’s pray.
