“What is God’s will for me?” People often ask this question. Scripture gives us a direct answer: God’s will is for us to be holy. But what does that mean?
Scripture:
1 Chronicles, chapters 25-27; 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 (CEB):
So then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to keep living the way you already are and even do better in how you live and please God – just as you learned from us. You know the instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. God’s will is that your lives are dedicated to him. This means that you stay away from sexual immorality, and learn how to control your own body in a pure and respectable way. Don’t be controlled by your sexual urges like the Gentiles who don’t know God.
No one should mistreat or take advantage of their brother or sister in this issue. The Lord punishes people for all these things, as we told you before and sternly warned you. God didn’t call us to be immoral but to be dedicated to him. Therefore, whoever rejects these instructions isn’t rejecting a human authority. They are rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Observations – God’s Will Is For Us to Be Holy
In yesterday’s reflection, I discussed the connection between holiness and spiritual development (“Filling in the Gaps: Holiness and Spiritual Development”). In our tribe, we view sanctification as God’s work in us to make us more like Jesus. “We believe that sanctification is that work of God which transforms believers into the likeness of Christ.” (Manual of the Church of the Nazarene, Article X). “Sanctification” is one of those biblical words that the various tribes of Christianity understand differently. Instead of focusing on the “how” of sanctification, though, Paul turns our attention toward what God intends for us.
First, we need to remember that what we know as “chapter 4” is just the continuation of the thought that Paul began in yesterday’s passage (1 Thessalonians 3:6-13). That indicates that the concept of sanctification which Paul addresses in today’s passage goes along with his call “to be blameless in holiness” in 3:13.
The CEB translation of 4:3 sets forth the concept of sanctification: God’s will is that your lives are dedicated to him. Here are some other translations of this verse:
- “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (NASB, NKJV, NRSV)
- “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified” (NIV)
- “God’s will is for you to be holy” (NLT)
Two threads run through the different translations of this verse, and through the larger passage. First, however we define “sanctification,” the fact is that it is God’s will for us. Second, sanctification involves holiness and being dedicated to God. These two aspects – being set apart for God’s use and being cleansed and empowered for God’s work – are common to all of the Biblical expressions of holiness.
Holiness Requires Both God’s Work and Our Participation
After saying that it is God’s will for our lives to be holy/dedicated to him, Paul explains some of what that means. “This means that you stay away from sexual immorality and learn how to control your own body in a pure and respectable way.” Biblical holiness includes far more than our sexuality, but it clearly includes that. Paul puts the issue plainly in verse 5: “Don’t be controlled by your sexual urges like the Gentiles who do not know God.”
Paul’s point is something that our modern culture has either forgotten or willfully ignored: we are not defined in terms of sexuality. All of us have sexual urges or desires. The issue is whether we allow those urges to control us, or whether we surrender them to God. Biblical holiness calls us to something higher than sexuality; it calls us to spirituality. Specifically, it calls us to be like Jesus.
So how do we do that? Through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. “Therefore, whoever rejects these instructions isn’t rejecting a human authority. They are rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you” (verse 8, emphasis added). God calls us to be holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). God has given us his Holy Spirit to lead us into the truth (John 16:13). God’s will is that your lives are dedicated to him!
Application – God’s Will Is For Us to Be Holy
Jesus often used the image of bearing fruit to describe our character and God’s work in us. Good trees bring forth good fruit; bad trees produce bad fruit. We are known by the fruit we produce. Likewise, in Galatians 5, Paul compares the fruit of the Holy Spirit with the acts of the sinful nature:
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25, NIV).
However we explain God’s work of sanctification, it should be clear that it results in changed behavior and changed priorities. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit!
Prayer:
Father, we live in a world that is controlled by desires. As Paul says in Galatians 5, the acts of the sinful nature are obvious. In our world, they are not only obvious; they are everywhere. You call us to something different, something better – to be dedicated to you.
Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit, who leads us in your way each day. Help us to learn more and more to recognize the Spirit’s voice, and to walk in obedience. It is your will for us to be holy, but we can’t make ourselves holy. Only you can do that! Thank you that you have given us your Spirit to make us holy. Help us today to walk in ways that demonstrate that our lives are dedicated to you. Amen.
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