Content: Why we should live holy lives
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Date : 2006. 3. 5. Sunday Day Service Sermon
The filth of fornication penetrates secretly. Neither the husband nor the wife enters without knowing it. It sneaks in and inflicts fatal wounds. It is holiness that never gives up. If you give up on this, your family will fall apart. We must live holy. Why do we need to live holy lives?
First, because God delights in living holy lives.
God is holy. God made us in His own image. So He delights in our holy lives. This is because living like this is the image of a Christian who was created in the image of God. “Holy” here means to be set apart. If you pursue a separate life, you automatically become clean and clean. Verse 1 says, “You have received from us what you ought to do and how to please God.” A holy life is a life pleasing to God. God loves and welcomes all sinners. However, if that sinner continues to sin and live under the pretense of God's love, God is not pleased. People don't change in an instant, but you have to do your best every moment. The struggle to live holy lives pleases God.
Second, because it is a life worthy of the Christian call.
Living a holy life is a worthy Christian life. To put it simply, verses 7-8 are saying that those who are called to be Christians must live holy lives. Salvation is not canceled just because the saved person sins. However, it can hinder the salvation of others. My salvation can only be obtained by faith. But we must live holy for the salvation of others. If a Christian lives under criticism from society, difficulties arise in evangelism. From the moment we believe in Jesus, our actions affect the church. It may affect the entire Korean church beyond the local church. Furthermore, it influences national evangelization. This is because the moment we believe in Jesus, we become public figures as “Christians. Because we are such Christians, we must live holy lives.
Third, because it is a way to protect and love your home and neighbors.
Verses 4-6 tell us to love our husbands and wives and not judge our neighbors. It is an act of destroying the family to betray a neighbor's wife or husband. It destroys not only my home, but also the homes of my neighbors. It is noisy with a case of sexual harassment by a member of the National Assembly. The member of the National Assembly struggles to keep his office, but what he has to protect is his family. It is likely that the heart of the family was greatly hurt. You must have felt shame and betrayal. Living holy is a way to protect my home. At the same time, it is also a way to protect someone else's home. If you love, you must live holy. Everyone has an idea or impulse that flashes through them at a moment's notice. This is an unavoidable phenomenon. What we really need to be wary of is obscene culture or habits. We must fight to prevent obscene culture and habits from taking root. Because this is a way to protect and love my home and the homes of my neighbors.
I went to a wedding yesterday. The official said this. “Even if you love like you can’t live or die, you can’t last more than three years. This is the limit of eros love. After eros love reveals its limits, we must protect our first love with agape love.” What is true love? It's not that you give everything to get love, but that you don't change after you get love, that you wear out your love by giving your all. If there are any couples who have become insensitive to each other, I hope that their relationship will be reborn in the gospel.