Second Sunday in Lent, 2003
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

The Early Church certainly had her strong points, but her doctrine of marriage was weak. For example, Tertullian argued quite correctly that Christians were spiritual soldiers. Writing through the persecutions of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, he reasoned that unencumbered soldiers were best able to endure hardships. Family responsibilities he deemed an unnecessary handicap. Soldiers cannot take their wives on campaigns, so why get married? And if the Church is under such distress why bring children into the world? Was this a mainstream view? It's hard to tell.

Moreover, a tendency crept into the Church to regard acts of self-denial as meritorious. Great attention was given to fasting, almsgiving, and celibacy. John Cassian is a case in point. Cassian was one of the desert fathers who spent his days in the solitude of a monastic cell. He wrote of himself, "dwelling in the seclusion of a monastery I have cast anchor in the harbor of religion, a harbor to all always most safe, in order that, having been there freed from the blasts of vanity and pride, and propitiating God by the sacrifice of Christian humility, I may be able to escape not only the shipwrecks of the present life, but also the flames of the world to come." [Cited in Philip E. Hughes, The True Image , p. 192. See Roland Bainton's, What Christianity Says About Sex, Love and Marriage for the historical data.] Though this was a high view of human effort and asceticism, it was a low view of God's grace.

Likewise a work called The Acts of Paul and Thecla exalted Thecla's virginity. This writing instructed married couples to separate for the cause of Christ. The only good of marriage is that it produces virgins. During the age of Constantine a strange practice was borrowed from the East. Men took in virgin housekeepers. It was thought that a man could increase his merit by exposing himself to greater sexual temptation. Naturally, the system backfired. Sex became an obsession. Many monks and clergy failed to achieve the merit. So many clergy fell into sexual sin that in A.D. 325 the Church had to ban the practice in the Council of Nicaea. The third canon of Nicaea stipulated, "This great synod absolutely forbids a bishop, presbyter, deacon or any of the clergy to keep a woman who has been brought in to live with him, with the exception of course of his mother or sister or aunt"

Similar to our modern times, ancient society was a swamp of sexual turpitude. A reputable citizen of Athens in the fourth century B.C. described the morality of the period in an oration called Against Neaera . Demosthenes was the author. He writes, "We keep mistresses for pleasure, concubines for our day-to-day bodily needs, but we have wives to produce legitimate children and serve as trustworthy guardians of our homes." It seems plain that confining sexual intercourse within marriage was a foreign concept to Greek morality. This lax notion evidently infiltrated the Church.

The apostle Paul wrote two epistles to the Church at Thessalonica while he was in Corinth. St. Timothy visited the parish. After Timothy returned to report on the progress of the brethren St. Paul penned 1 Thessalonians. Did Timothy encounter sexual unrestraint among the Thessalonians? Were the Thessalonians deficient in this arena? Possibly. That may set the background and occasion of our epistle passage. The apostle Paul exhorts the Thessalonians with these words, "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 morality, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God" (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5).

Let's consider the most difficult phrase: "each of you should know how to possess his own vessel" (v. 4). What does that word "vessel" refer to? In Greek it is skeon . It is amazing how divided commentators have been on this question. Throughout history the Church splits right down the middle. Some say the "vessel" in mind is a metaphor for "wife," others say the "vessel" in mind is a metaphor for the "body". Which is it, wife or body? If wife is the correct reading, then St. Paul is urging each Thessalonian believer "to take a wife for himself"; if body is accepted then each believer is "to control his own body." This is one case where both versions may be correct.

The translation "control his body" has pro and con arguments. Opposing the body rendering is the word "possess." "Each of you should know how to possess his own vessel." That word possess normally means to "procure for oneself, acquire, get;" so it wouldn't make sense if Paul commands us to get a body; we already have one. On the other hand, there are reasons to favor the body interpretation. St. Paul used the word vessel as a metaphor for the body on at least one other occasion. 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." The earthen vessels refer to our physical bodies. We find another precedent in 1 Samuel 21:5. Jonathan has just discovered that his father, King Saul, seeks to kill David. Jonathan notifies his best friend. David, along with some young men, flees from Saul to a city called Nob. They come to the temple and meet a priest named Ahimilech. David asks this priest at Nob for some bread to nourish his hungry men. Ahimilech responds, "There is not common bread on hand; but there is holy bread" (v. 4). In other words, he is out of regular bread but he does have showbread, the loaves ritually placed on the table of the Lord. This would be like our communion bread. Ahimilech adds, "have the young men kept themselves from women?" David replies, yes, "the vessels of the young men are holy." The Hebrew word "vessels" David uses here refers to bodies, with a special reference to genitalia. In order to prove to Ahimilech that his young men were ceremonially clean, David assured the priest that his men's bodies and genitalia had been free of sexual contact for at least three days. Likewise St. Paul was admonishing the Thessalonians to control their vessels, that is, their bodies and maintain them free of sexual immorality.

The translation "acquire a wife" has as well strong arguments and weak ones. The difficulty with the translation "take a wife" lies in the noun. For "vessel" means a utensil, or container. Is this an appropriate word to call a wife? It seems derogatory, even vulgar, for Paul to have used it in this sense. Yet, even St. Peter calls the wife "the weaker vessel" in 1 Peter 3:7. And Paul calls the body an earthen vessel as we already mentioned. So the term is not inherently demeaning. The translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:4 reads "each of you should know how to acquire his own wife." Is Paul telling all bachelors to seek the hand of a lady in marriage? That could be part of it. (History tells us that the Emperor Augustus during his reign tried to legislate marriage by placing a tax on bachelors.) The apostle doesn't go that far, but in 1 Corinthians 7 he recommends marriage "because of sexual immorality." He says, "let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband" (1 Cor. 7:2). Why? St. Paul explains. "For it is better to marry than to burn with passion" (v. 9). The Bible is very earthy, and the prayer book reflects this earthiness. The marriage liturgy lists three causes for which matrimony was ordained by God. The second reason given is this: "It was ordained for a remedy against sin, and to avoid fornication; that such persons as have not the gift of continence might marry, and keep themselves undefiled members of Christ's body."

Though a few Christians here and there are called to a celibate life, the married life is the norm for believers. Sexual relations are to be practiced exclusively within heterosexual marriage. Let us read the passage again. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8. [Read them.]

God tells you and me that our duty is to be holy in the sexual sphere. What does that mean in practice? It means a whole gamut of things. The avoidance of pornography should be a starting point. Its availability has made our age more sexually tempted than any previous one.

Just a few weeks ago an expert on sexual addictions spoke to us at our synod in Dallas. He related a story about a deacon in his church twenty years ago. This deacon one night drove out to purchase an X-rated video. It took him nearly half an hour to arrive at the business. He parked in the lot, got out and looked around carefully before proceeding. The thought of being recognized by someone terrified him. He plucked up the courage to go through the door. Once inside he kept looking over his shoulder. The store was full of porn. He bought a good one, paid for it, walked out, and got in his car. Driving home his conscience began to weigh on him. Five minutes from his house he rolled down the window and threw the video into a ditch.

Today what would happen? Would this deacon have to endure the shame and effort of walking into an X-rated movie outfit? Would he be required one hour of driving time to make the round trip? No. With the inter-net, one click of the mouse, and bang: bold, vivid images appear on the monitor. Pornography is thus exceedingly accessible. And that availability makes our epistle lesson all the more relevant for you and me today.

Please, for the sake of your soul, stay away from pornography, and gratuitous sexual scenes. Those images remain a long time in the memory and inflame the lust for women you should not be lusting after. "This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality." The Bible is very clear about condemning this stuff.

If you are single and feel the need to masturbate, the Bible does not seem to condemn that. However, masturbation can become sinful if it is accompanied by pornography or practiced too frequently.

For those of us who are married we have our sexual temptations, especially men. The Old Testament tells us about King Solomon. He built up a harem of one thousand wives and concubines. Women are astonished at this, not men. Men are attracted to a variety of women. If God allowed voracious sexual activity like Solomon indulged in, and if we had the opportunity, most men would gladly follow Solomon's example. But God does indeed condemn it. Adultery and fornication are classified as some of the more heinous of sins. God created us soul and body; therefore whatever evil the body does, adversely affects the soul. Those of you who have already been deeply damaged by sexual indulgence need healing. That healing may take years, even decades. Persevere in "whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report ­ meditate on these things" (Philippians 4:8). That is probably the best recipe for mind pollution.

Are there other precautions you can take? These are not laws, but they are wise principles to follow: you ought to avoid spending too much time alone with persons of the opposite sex, persons that are not your spouse. Driving alone in a car, meeting behind closed doors, entering a home or an apartment alone with someone of the opposite sex, flirting, paying excessive attention to someone you shouldn't be. The general rule is this: be careful. Avoid evil and even the appearance of evil. If there is no other escape, run. Sexual sins begin so subtly. Jesus declared, "whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Mt. 5:28). One way to apply this is to nip in the bud all those little occasions that eventually lead to a full-blown adulterous affair. Not only is the Lord displeased by fornication and adultery, He is the Avenger of it. That's what our passage says. God judges those who fool around. In one way or another, either in this world or the next, everyone pays the price for committing adultery. Sometimes that price is very high: destroyed families, sexually transmitted diseases, ruined careers, abortion, etc. Sexual laxity is not worth it.

It is time for a qualifier: holiness or sanctification is more than sexual correctness. Some of you may be thinking, "Sexual temptation is not my weakness." Fine, your temptation attacks at a different point. No one is exempt from some "besetting sin" or "Achilles heel." The Achilles heel of some may be sheer materialism; with others gossip; with others gluttony; with others anger. You still need to "put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Eph. 6:10). Each of you has a chink in your spiritual armor where Satan strives to strike you down. "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12).

On this Second Sunday in Lent make a resolution to walk with God, and please Him. Come now to the Holy Communion. Bring your weakness. Confess your sins to your Heavenly Father. Ask Him for strengthening grace upon your body. Ask the Lord to give you what you cannot attain on your own. Ask Him to maintain your body a vessel of honor, and your mind a channel of sexual purity.

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