Christian Sexual Ethics - December 30

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5

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, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God…

Reflect

How do God’s commandments pertaining to sex differ from the world’s sexual ethics?

It may be difficult, but try to imagine living in a society even more sexually immoral and perverse than our current one. Like I said, it’s probably hard for you to imagine because here in the US and in many countries around the globe, the culture at large has accepted an “almost anything goes” sexual ethic.

Still, many nations today have a long history of being profoundly impacted by the Christian church. So there are still many vestiges of Christian sexual ethics in our countries. However, in the Greco-Roman culture of the early church, this was not the case. Thessalonica was a pagan city. In his commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians, John MacArthur explained: ‘The city was rife with such sinful practices as fornication, adultery, homosexuality (including pedophilia), transvestism (men dressing like women), and a wide variety of pornographic and erotic perversions, all done with a seared conscience and society’s acceptance, hence with little or no accompanying shame or guilt. Unlike people in Western nations today, the Thessalonians grew up with no Christian tradition to support laws and standards that forbid the grosser manifestations of immorality.”

Try putting yourself in the shoes of a Gentile believer in Thessalonica at that time. You grew up in a culture that was lewd and licentious. Even going to the temple to worship was a grossly sexual affair with temple prostitutes and vulgar rituals. But when Paul, Silas, and Timothy preached the Gospel, you accepted it and received it as the word of God. So, what now? How does being born again in Christ change the way you think about sexuality? Frankly, it’s counter-cultural! It would be difficult to change and tempting to fall back into old habits. Many of us can relate today!

That’s why, in today’s verses, Paul continued urging the Thessalonians to walk according to the way they had instructed them and in a way that would please God (1 Thessalonians 4:1-2) but with a focus on sexual morality. He exhorted them to exercise self-control, to act honorably, and to be holy in regards to their sexuality.

Have you ever wondered what God’s will is? Well, here Paul said that God’s will is the sanctification of believers. He wants to make us holy as He is holy! God doesn’t want us to be patterned after the behaviors of the world, He wants us to be conformed to the image of His Son (2 Corinthians 3:18, Romans 8:29).

So how do we know what a Christian sexual ethic is? Well, just like with everything else, we need to go back to the Bible! In the beginning, we see that God’s original design for marriage was one man with one woman: “Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:23-24). One man and one woman becoming one flesh. That is God’s original design for sex and marriage.

Following His design leads to human flourishing. Anything outside of that is considered sexual sin and leads to human brokenness. God’s Word clearly condemns adultery, homosexuality, and other forms of immorality (Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 7:2,8-9, Jude 1:7). Jesus even addressed lust which can be applied to our modern-day issue of pornography (Matthew 5:27-28).

You may be wondering why God takes sexual sin so seriously, especially in a culture that takes it so lightly. In 1 Corinthians 6:18, Paul gave us insight on this. He wrote, “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”

I know that many Christians struggle with sexual sins or have sexual immorality in their past. It’s hard to live a life of sexual holiness and honor in times like these. But God knows what is best for us! He is the designer of sex so He gets to tell us how it should and shouldn’t be used. And in Christ, there is forgiveness and grace when we confess our sins to Him (1 John 1:9). Praise God!

Respond

Lord, help me to honor Your boundaries for sex and marriage. Your design is perfect. It is truly good and beautiful. Thank You for Your grace and mercy for the times that I have sinned against You. Sanctify me, Lord. Make me holy like You. Amen.

Reveal

When Christians live in obedience to God in regards to their sexuality, what does that communicate to the world? Does your sexual ethic reveal Christ to a watching world?