Become What You Already Are
September 27 | Donavon Hintz
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1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
A Life Pleasing to God
1 Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you 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 his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Our culture tells us to follow our deepest desires. It often suggests that denying them is dishonest or harmful. Scripture offers a different vision. The Bible affirms that desire is part of being human. God created us to long for relationship, intimacy, beauty, joy, and belonging. Yet Scripture also teaches that sin has distorted our desires. What feels natural does not always lead toward life.
That is where Paul takes us in 1 Thessalonians 4. He writes to a young church surrounded by different ideas about the human body. Paul is not merely giving them a list of sexual rules. He is describing life when every part of who we are is brought under the gracious reign of King Jesus.
Holiness Begins with Belonging
Paul’s teaching about sexuality begins with identity. These believers have received a new King, entered a new Kingdom, and become part of a new people. Following Jesus does not begin with our behavior; it begins with what God has done for us in Christ. Grace meets us in our sin, forgives us through Jesus, and transforms us by the Spirit. We do not obey so God will love us. God has already loved us, and therefore we want every part of our lives to please Him.
Holiness Is a Life Submitted to Jesus
God’s will is that we become like Jesus, and this includes how we understand and use our bodies. The Thessalonians lived in a society where prostitution, adultery, and the sexual exploitation of enslaved people were common. When Paul tells them to abstain from sexual immorality, he challenges practices their neighbors considered normal. The gospel did not merely give them religious beliefs. It gave them a new understanding of their bodies, relationships, and desires. If Jesus is Lord, He is Lord over all of life.
Holiness Is for Others
Sexual holiness matters because it concerns how we treat people made in God’s image. Sexual sin is not simply breaking a rule; it can wrong, use, and exploit another person. Love chooses to honor others, seek their good, and treat them as sacred to God. The church’s sexual ethic should not make us known merely for what we oppose. It should form us into people whose relationships display the faithful, covenant love of Jesus. A community shaped by that love becomes a sign of another Kingdom.
Holiness Is a Calling and a Gift
God does not call us to holiness and leave us to achieve it through willpower. He gives us His Spirit. The good news is not that some of us have remained pure enough for God. The good news is that Jesus was perfectly faithful for us. He never used another person, treated anyone as an object, or placed His desires above His neighbor’s good. Instead, He gave Himself in self-sacrificing love at the cross so we could be forgiven and receive new life. Then He placed His Spirit within us, empowering us to become what He has declared us to be.
One day Jesus will return and bring His Kingdom in full. He will renew creation and dwell with His people forever. His Kingdom has already begun, though it is not yet fully here. Until that day, the church is called to live as a sign of God’s coming future. May we become, more and more, who we already are in Christ.
Discussion Questions
What messages does our culture give us about desire, sexuality, and the body? How does the Scripture’s perspective differ?
How does seeing others as people made in God’s image reshape the way we think about sexual holiness?
What practices can help us depend on the Spirit as we seek to become who we already are in Christ?