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1 Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passion, like the gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

 

For by grace we have been saved, apart from works. We know this from Ephesians 2:8. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation; Jesus earned it for us in his death and resurrection. This passage in Thessalonians, then, does not address our salvation. It addresses our behavior as disciples of Jesus, who have been saved, once and forever.

Are we living lives that reflect our membership in God’s family? Paul especially addresses sexual immorality in this passage. In the pagan culture surrounding the Christian siblings to which Paul wrote, sexual exploitation of others was common. Abuse of power and privilege for one’s own sexual pleasure was a pagan cultural norm. It didn’t matter who it hurt, whether the person/people directly involved, the children that may result from such casual unions, or anyone. Pagans also used sex as a form of idol-worship. Certainly, this type of immoral behavior would be displeasing to our one true God of love and Justice. Whereas pagans may have said it doesn’t matter who sex hurts, Paul takes a strong stance to remind his fellow Christians that it does.

And it still matters. Who we hurt in order to gratify ourselves — be it sexually, through our consumeristic behaviors, through environmental neglect, or in other ways—matters. God wants the best for us and others in every way.

We pray: God of grace and love, guide me as I seek to live a life that honors you. Help me to have the inner courage and integrity worthy of the life you have given me. In my savior Jesus’ name, Amen.

Pastor Beverly Struckmann

pastorbev@livinglord.org