9/2 - 1 Thessalonians 4, Part 2

Paul exhorts the Thessalonians early in the chapter for their faithfulness but here in chapter 4 addresses them on a matter where they needed more guidance. The Thessalonian culture, much like ours, had a perspective of sex that left God out. What made it worse for them was there was no Christian influence that had even suggested sexual purity. As new believers, they were expected to go from doing whatever they were doing to being sexual pure, cold turkey.

"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit" (v. 4-8)

The opening to this passage, I believe, would be better understood as "for this is a will of God," meaning I don't think Paul is explaining the exhaustive will of God but just a portion, particularly, our sexual purity. As believers, our goal is to please God and the only way we can accomplish this is first understand what it is that pleases Him or, in other words, His will. The specific part of His will we must understand here is that we be sanctified.

The verse makes it clear that one's sexuality can't be separated from one's sanctification. If you are failing in this area, you consequently fail to be sanctified in God's sight. That word sanctification, in this instance, means to make holy, to separate or to devote or consecrate. The implication is separation from the world and devotion to God. In verse 4, we see the significance of that separation - that we possess our bodies with honor, not "like the Gentiles who do not now God." There's a clear distinction made here. Therefore if you have resolved to live a life that includes sex outside of marriage, then your sanctification - the process of being made holy & fit for the kingdom of God - is incomplete. I'm not ranking sins here. The same could be said for a variety of other sins, but we're on 1 Thessalonians 4 and this is the topic at hand. This is also an area God has devoted a lot of attention to in His word so it would behoove us to pay special attention to it.

Imagine a lower standard for holiness. I suppose we don't have to imagine, we can just look around at the world's guidelines for sexual morality, but imagine if that standard was actually truth. Imagine if some of the things we convince ourselves of - "God understands," "A little of this won't hurt," "It's not like I'm hurting anybody," etc - imagine if that standard was actually true, if God was actually cool with it like we convince ourselves He is. That would also mean that God is also cool with the consequences - the heartache, unwanted pregnancies, disease, sexual addiction, perversion - all the things He actually guards us from when a proper perspective of marriage is attained and a correct attempt at it is made.

8/16 - Colossians 3, Part 2

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all." (Colossians 3:5-11)

Being a new man in Christ necessarily requires that you remove the old junk out of your life. Confessing Christianity means committing to a total transformation from who you were to who God wants you to be. How can a total transformation be complete if we hang on to our old stuff? Was Abram anything like Abraham? Was Saul anything like Paul? Was Steve Urkel anything like Stephan Urkelle? If I want to fix my golf swing (Lord knows I need to), there's some old habits that I need to completely forsake if my new swing will be successful. Just like any of the things we try to change in our lives - attitudes, addictions, skills, etc - holding on to our old ways only hinders our progress. I don't mean to imply that I'm offering a "just do better" or "just stop what you're doing" solution. If it were that easy, it wouldn't be worth blogging about. I'm trying to establish a foundation by which transformation can be deemed a worthy conquest and reasons why the old ways we hold on to should be destroyed. Jesus gave a great example in a parable where he said

"No one uses a new piece of cloth to patch old clothes. The patch would shrink and tear a bigger hole. No one pours new wine into old wineskins. The wine would swell and burst the old skins. Then the wine would be lost, and the skins would be ruined. New wine must be put into new wineskins. Both the skins and the wine will then be safe" (Matt 9:16-17, CEV).

If you're going to a party with a 3-piece Armani suit, don't blow it by wearing your 6-year-old busted Reebok's. Your old stuff is not allowing the new stuff to shine.

That was a silly analogy but I think it also helps explain why we hold on to our old stuff. We get comfortable in it. Those old busted Reebok's have conformed themselves perfectly to our feet & we don't want to let them go. In life we think that just because we've been doing a thing so long and we've become so accustomed to it that it can come along for the ride in our Christian walk. Paul says put to death your old members which are on earth. The list he mentions - fornication, uncleanness, evil desire, etc - we know what of those things we hold on to. I think that phrase "put to death" implies action. It's a little more than praying for it & hoping God takes it away. Now that's a great start, but without action it could be a futile attempt. This process, which I think we should be engaged in everyday (1 Corinthians 15:31), is not an easy one and requires prayer, confession, accountability, Bible study & some carefully placed restrictions in your life. If you're a shopaholic, maybe consider placing your expendable income in an account you can't easily access. Pornography addict, consider an accountability partner & blocking yourself from certain websites. These type of actions, of course along with prayer, constitute putting our old ways to death.

The process is painful & tedious, just like the Israelites who had to put their best lambs to death (Leviticus 1:1-9), but it's necessary for our sanctification.

8/15 - Colossians 3

Good morning everyone. I added a "verse of the day" feed from biblegateway.com (the site I use to link all my scriptures) and it's on the right side of the page under the subscribe link. Earlier this week I snuck a Twitter link on the blog, found on the bottom right. Yep, I joined Twitter (www.twitter.com/rpscott02). My wife thinks I'm going to become a junkie, and I'm not even here to say I won't...but I'll try not to. I didn't understand what all the fuss was about but after experiencing it a few days I think I'm starting to get it. I'm also able tweet the blog posts each day which I thought was pretty cool. So follow me @rpscott02 tweeps! Nevermind what that means, on to more important matters...

Colossians 3

The chapter begins, "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (v. 1-3). In my distracted life, it is easy to forget what has been revealed to me with regard to why I'm here. I can focus all my energy on the temporary things of this life: my job, paying bills, running errands, Bengals training camp, etc. Not that these things should be ignored, but if all my energy is focused on these things, how can I be fully focused on Christ? Now I don't think I should just be walking around oblivious to the world, chanting "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" with total disregard for others or my earthly responsibilities. I think a focus on God would look more like continual prayer throughout the day, taking time to get to know my co-workers so I can minister to them, considering where God would have me donate money when I look at my finances, viewing everyone I encounter as either heaven or hell bound and letting my conversation flow from that.

OK, back to the verse. The KJV version of verse 1 reads "If ye then be risen in Christ..." That word "risen" in Hebrew is "mischar" which means "morning; rising in the sense of day breaking." The moment we decide to follow Christ, the Bible says we are new creatures. The sun has set on our old ways and the dawn of a new era begins. Just as each day is separate from the day before, we are completely new concerning our old selves. With this "new self" then, should have a new perspective, a new thinking that is separate from our old way. As Paul put it, we should set our minds on things above. Here's a few parallel passages that speak to our being made new in Christ - Ezekiel 11:19, Romans 6:4, 2 Cor 5:17, Galatians 6:15, Ephesians 2:15, 4:24.

Although we have this "new self," there's still a lot we need to do to realize the full potential of this new creation. I'm not talking about doing things to earn salvation, but taking active steps toward sanctification - the process of separating one's self and striving for holiness. Though we are made new, there are still some consequences and bad habits we have to deal with from our "old self." I think this is why Paul took the time to give some very straight to the point advice on striving for holiness: "put to death your members which are on earth: fornification, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness which is idolatry". We can't take on this new self while still catering to our old desires. More on this tomorrow. Grace & peace to you.