The day in which we live is more like A.D. 50 than 1950! For some of us, this is a problem. They want to go back to the "good old days." But I think this is good news because the gospel of Jesus Christ flourished in the first century and for the next several hundred years.

During that time, Christians were a minority sect - often misunderstood when it came to their beliefs and lifestyles. Yet their lives became the "gospel lived-out." Their lives became "living letters" that drew in others for a closer reading. Their lives were the music that entranced and invited listeners to "lean in" to hear the lyrics of the song.

How did this happen? How can it happen today?

1 Thessalonians 4:3 - It is God's will that you should be sanctified ...

Set Apart (as a People) and Set within Our Culture
Sanctification means "to be set apart." It is a condition and a process. Sanctification is the preocess of becoming distinctively different. It is the transformation of our character.

It is God's will that we be "set apart" as God's people while still being part of the world in which we live. It is a fallacious thought to believe that it would be "easier to live for God" in some other setting than my own! (i.e., another era, job, location, etc.)

Christians are called to be a distinct people; to be a visible demonstration of what it means to be a Christ-follower. The primary issue of the church is not to have all the theological issues settled, but to be characterized by a commitment to be a disciple.

The church is the "people of God," but more than that the church is the "body" of Christ. This image of the church as the body of Christ should result in a new awareness that the church is the continuation of the presence of Jesus in the world. Sanctification does set Christians "apart" from the world's value system, but we don't escape the world - nor should we try. We are to lend a particular presence to it.

Jesus prayed, Sanctify them by the truth. As You have sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world, (John 17:17-18). Believers are protected not by isolation, but by identity. Our identity as "disciples" means that we are set apart (called to God's purposes).

We need to think, meditate, reflect deeply on questions like: Do I truly believe that I belong to God? What does it mean for my life to be God's man/woman? What are the implications of being "set apart" on my life?

Sexual Purity - in Marriage and Singleness (v. 3-8)
The Bible provides guidance and stories that portray the beauty of sanctified sexuality and the damage and destruction of misused sexuality.

If you saw an off-ramp sign on a freeway that said, "DO NOT ENTER," would you resent it or appreciate it? Most of us would appreciate information that protects us from harm. God has given us clear instructions for how to live healthy, honest, beautiful, and good lives. Whenever God says, "No," to certain behaviors, it is not to cause us pain but for our protection and our benefit.

God is not a kill-joy when it comes to sex. God invented sex. And God wants us to use it and not abuse it.

We must believe that life with God, in line with His will for our lives, is the best of all possible options. The way we embrace and express our sexuality should reflect our connection and commitment to Jesus.

This is important because our culture has turned sexual desire and practice into a moral free-for-all, where the only rule is that individuals must be allowed to express whatever desires they possess.

The Apostle Paul wrote: It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality [porneia]; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen ['people outside the Christian church'], who do not know God.

Sexual activity outside the parameters provided by Scripture damages not only the individuals; it has a negative, damaging effect on the community.

Wendell Berry - a farmer and essayist - describes this dynamic:
    "Such a community is (among other things) a set of arrangements between men and women. These arrangements include marriage, family structure, divisions of work and authority, and responsibility for the instruction of children and young people. These arrangements exist, in part, to reduce the volatility and the danger of sex - to preserve its energy, its beauty, and its pleasure; to preserve and clarity its power to join not just husband and wife to one another but parents to children, families to the community, the community to nature [the new married couple would inherit the land]; to ensure, so far as possible, that the inheritors of sexuality, as they come of age, will be worthy of it.
    "Once it has shrugged off the interests and claims of the community, the public language of sexuality comes directly under the influence of private lust, ambition, and greed and becomes inadeuate to deal with the real issues and problems of sexuality.
    "If you depreciate the sanctity and solemnity of marriage, not just as a bond between two people but as a bond between those two people and [their community], their forebearers, their children, and their neighbors, then you have prepared the way for an epidemic of divorce, child neglect, community ruin and loneliness."

My generation grew up in the era of "sexual liberation." This "liberation" meant that it would be "all about ME" - the individual.

Seeing to free sexual love from its old communal restraints, we have "freed" it also from its meaning, its responsibility, and its exaltation. And we have made it more dangerous.

According to its claims, sexual liberation ought logically to have brought in a time of 'naturalness,' ease and candor between men and women. It has, on the contrary, filled the country with sexual self-consciousness, uncertainity and fear. Women, though they may dress as if the sexual millennium had arrived, hurry along our city streets and public corridors with their eyes averted, like hunted animals. "Eye contact," once the very signature of our humanity, has become a danger. The meeting ground between men and women, which ouught to be safeguarded by trust, has become a place of suspicion, competition, and violence.

Lovers must not live for themselves alone. They must finally turn from their gaze at one another back toward the community. If they had only themselves to consider, lovers would not need to marry, but they must think of others and of other things. They say their vows to the community as much as to one another, and the community gathers around them to hear and to wish them well, on their behalf and on its own. It gathers around them because it understands how necessary, how joyful, and how fearful this joining is.

God through Scripture and through the Christian community helps married people to be faithful and not cheat and not abandon people or responsibilities and to work through their problems and to not give up when it gets hard; and it provides support and counsel through individuals and the church.

God tells singles, "Yes, the sexual desire is strong and sexual frustration is hard, but giving in to your sexual desires will bring far-reaching damage and heartache in spite of the momentary pleasure."

Scripture doesn't minimize the power of sexual desire. But it tells us that there is far more at stake than most of us realize; and it is worth it to be sexually wise by exerting sexual restraint; to live within the parameters of sexuality given by God.

God really does know what will bring deep and lasting pleasure and bonding and joy and relationship - rather than tearing apart relations.

Illicit sex steals from individuals and community. So much is lost when we make sex a private matter and we ignore community. Berry wrote, "In this cult of liberated sexuality, free of courtesy, ceremony, responsibility, and restraint...there is much that is human, sad to say, but there is no sense or sanity. Trying to draw the line where were are trying to draw it, between carelessness and brutality, is like insisting that falling is flying - until you hit the ground - and then trying to outlaw hitting the ground."

So many people think they are "free" - that they're "flying." But they're really falling. We cannot overreact or become prudish as some religious people. We cannot become uptight and afraid of sex. We must remember that it is a good gift from God. And it takes commitment to be faithful physically and emotionally. Any good relationship requires endurance, perseverance and commitment.

But please understand that sexual sin is not the "unpardonable sin." There are deep and painful wounds, but grace and forgiveness are available.

The Christian in the Community (v. 9-12)
Paul's aim in this section of Scripture is the favorable opinion of non-Christians! The behavior of believers isn't designed to please non-Christians, but to please God. But Christian morality finds an "echo" in the hearts of men and women created in God's image.

Brotherly love (v. 9), otherwise known as "philadelphia," ... for all people!

Early Christians were well known for the way they loved each other and took care of each other. They had each other's backs.

But it didn't stop there - they loved others in practical ways as well. They took care of the needy, sick, poor, marginalized. They treated all others with respect.

Make it your ambition to lead quiet lives (v. 11a). In other words, "Chill out," "Seek restlessly to be still." Don't run over people for advancement or possessions. Live calm, responsible lives. Be still and know that I am God.

Mind your own business (v. 11b). Don't be busybodies!

Work honestly and diligently - be the best employee at work. Be courteous, helpful, go the second mile, work to improve your skills and performance.

Work with your hands (v. 11c). Earn your own way; don't be a freeloader.

It's easy to get caught up in pointing out all of the depravity in our culture and to forget to look for signs that point to people's deep desire to touch the infinite and to be truly free and to see negative experiences transformed into good.

Redeeming culture has less to do with charging people outside the church to act morally and has more to do with meeting people where they are and sharing the message of hope in a reference they can connect with - like having relationships that are honest and honoring with the opposite sex; and having marriages that are faithful, loving, serving, and honoring. Caring for and protecting the weakest members of society like children and the elderly. Having a work ethich that is simple and diligent and strong and positive; and living lives that are good, pure, true, positive, beautiful, honest and caring.

We should understand what Paul was teaching by using the first and last verses of this passage like bookends which I will paraphrase here: "Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.