Tuesday
1 Thessalonians 4:2-8

We should desire to please God. And one important issue is sexuality. Interpreter N. T. Wright declares: “Our modern world has turned sexual desire, preference, and practice into a moral free-for-all, where the only rule is that people must be allowed to express whatever desires happen to arise, or be aroused, within them.”

First-century Thessalonica was a city where self-gratification was a profitable business. Pagan temples served as brothels. You paid an offering and then your act of worship was some sexual practice. And for many of these new converts, this had been their way of life.

Paul focused his counsel in three areas:

1. No sexual immorality—this included sex outside of marriage and perhaps included sacred prostitution at pagan temples.
2. Self-control within marriage
3. No cheating of one another
4. Remember, God will judge those who cross the lines drawn here.