You may remember a real tear-jerker of a movie from a couple of decades ago called Lorenzo’s Oil. It’s about a little boy named Lorenzo, with a vicious disease called adrenoleukodystrophy. ALD affects mostly boys and young men, usually diagnosed between the ages of four and ten years old. In ALD, insulating material in the boys’ brains known as myelin is progressively destroyed. The disease worsens over several years. Usually, in less than five years from ALD diagnosis, the child loses all cognitive, mental, and physical functions, and deteriorates into a vegetative state, leading to death. ALD is a gruesome nightmare.

There are any number of other diseases that limit the brain’s ability to control the body. Many of you know that I have multiple sclerosis. MS is another demyelinating disease like ALD, only obviously I’m not dead yet. All of these diseases cause discomfort of some sort. Most of them lead to some sort of significant disability. Some lead to death.

What is true in the medical realm is equally true in the moral. When the brain cannot control the body’s functions, the result is discomfort, disability, and death. It is equally true that when the body’s desires control the mind’s decisions, the most likely outcome will be discomfort, disability, and ultimately death.

I am not saying that moral disorders are precisely parallel with medical conditions. Obviously they’re two very different things. But ALD remains an apt illustration—so long as you don’t take it for more than a metaphor.

God created us as living souls united seamlessly with living bodies. His creative intent was that our conscious, thinking, rational souls should animate and joyfully employ our physical bodies in service to him. But we are not today what we were created to be. We are fallen souls, we are ruined persons, we are upside-down and inside-out human beings. We are sinners, one and all.

The question of the hour is this: is your body under your control, or is it in control of you? Most particularly, since we are where we are in 1 Thessalonians, is your body’s sexuality under your control, or is it in control of you?

READ 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

where it fits     God’s policy on purity (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8)

(vv 1-2) Christ’s precept on purity

(v 3) God’s position on purity

(vv 4-6) God’s plan for purity

(4) Learn to control your body

(5) Learn to discipline your desires

(6) Learn to revere your brother

(v 7) God’s purpose for purity

(v 8) God’s persistence on purity

4 simple statements about learning to control the body

FIRST Controlling the body is a universal priority

⁴ that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 

All of us Christians are called to control our bodies—even believers who foolishly suppose that their bodies don’t really matter all that much. Nobody was more aware than Paul of how the internal life is more important than the external, the spiritual more vital than the physical. But that doesn’t at all mean that he didn’t also think the body mattered immensely. Listen to what he said to the Corinthian Christians:

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Do not think that all Paul cared about was the fact that we use our bodies to do the things we do and that therefore we’ll have to one day answer for the things we did with our bodies. Don’t make the mistake of thinking he had no real concern about the specifics of how we regard our bodies in this present life. Listen to something else he said to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 9 ²⁴ Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.   ^{•  •  •  •  26} So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷ But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

His body mattered and our bodies matter immensely.

Controlling the body is a universal priority for Christians. It’s not simply good advice given by the American Medical Association. Controlling your body is a command decreed by your Father in heaven, communicated to you by the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit speaking by way of the Apostle Paul. Back in our passage, 1 Thessalonians 4, pay attention to the word “that”:

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,

Knowing how to keep your body under control isn’t medical advice. It isn’t parental wisdom. It isn’t old-fashioned morality. It is a command from God.

Controlling the body is a universal priority.

SECOND Controlling the body involves an unnatural process

⁴ that each one of you know how to control his own body…

The point is, controlling our bodies is something we must learn to do. It’s not something that will happen naturally or easily. It is an often-lengthy process requires honesty, mastery, humility

That requires honesty

There are some basic facts that we’re going to have to honestly face up to.

First, when God made human beings, he designed them to be sexually active by 18. Yes, you heard that right. When God made human beings, he designed them to be sexually active by 18. I say this because, as God sees things, sex is first and foremost for procreation. That’s not its only purpose, but it is very clearly its first purpose. Young men normally are capable of begetting children by their middle to late teen years. Young women of that age are usually capable of conceiving and bearing them. Both have bodies that are flooded with hormones that drive them to desire to do what needs to be done to produce children.

We cannot deny that that’s how teenagers are. The question is, why are they that way? The answer is, because God built them that way. That’s why many simpler, less “civilized” cultures throughout history have had their young women married by 16 or so, and their young men by 19, with their mates more or less chosen for them by their parents. Western culture, on the other hand, insists on individual choice. We expect our young people to choose their own sexual activities and sexual partners.

At the same time, saying teenagers need to enjoy their youth and be protected from the hard realities of life because their brains are just not capable of handling those truths, we have invented a construct called “adolescence.” We discourage them from being truly independent, and encourage them to be inquisitive and unrestrained about sexual activity, as long as the sacred cows of consent and contraception are given due reverence.

So we’ve created a situation in which our young people are not emotionally or practically ready to get married until ten or fifteen years after they’re physically ready for sex. That’s a solid decade in which their bodies are primed for sexual activity, while their parents and their preachers are saying “absolutely not.” It’s no wonder our rules and sermons seem so out of touch with reality, and no surprise our mantras have failed so miserably! Simply saying the words “safe sex” or “true love waits” is not likely to reverse the basic engineering of the human body. Our system and our slogans are running precisely counter to the instincts and equipment that our God himself gave our young people.

So what should we do? Return to the old system of arranged marriages? [[[ ]]] I’d sure like to [[[ ]]] but you and I both know that just isn’t going to happen.

What we do need is to be honest with ourselves and with our young people, and teach them to be honest with themselves. It’s not just that we live in an immoral society; it’s that we live in an insane one that is routinely denying basic biology about sex, desire, and procreation. Staying pure in this society will be virtually impossible for them unless they learn and follow God’s policy on purity. And that requires, first of all, honesty.

That requires mastery

No matter how stupidly things are set up in our society, we Christians are still required to control ourselves – to master our appetites. We are to tell our bodies what they can and cannot do – not the other way around. That goes for what food we put into our bodies, the exercise we use our bodies for, the sleep we give our bodies, and what we do with our bodies sexually. To fail to choose for our bodies is to allow our bodies to choose for us.

Picture some cad badgering a reticent young woman: “baby I’m a man, I got needs, I can’t help myself.” Little sister, if some fool ever tries that tired nonsense on you, tell him “It’s dogs that can’t control their cravings; men master their own desires.”

Christian brothers and sisters, master your physical cravings or they will master you.

That requires honesty, mastery, humility

We’ve got to continually train our young people—and ourselves—to refuse to presume upon their own ability to resist temptation. We need teach them to listen to the Scripture.

The Bible teaches us to “make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” It insists that we “flee sexual immorality,” and to that end that we “flee youthful lusts.” There is one verse in particular that a lot of Christians seem to want to read only the first half of: 1 Corinthians 10:13.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability,

And then we stop. “See? I can handle any temptation. God’s got my back. It says so right there. So it doesn’t matter where I go or who I’m with. I can hang with my friends when they go out drinking tonight. I won’t get in any trouble” Read the rest of the verse.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Putting yourself in unnecessary temptation situations and then expecting God to somehow keep you from falling into sin is foolish and maybe even a little blasphemous.

So what is it your Heavenly Father wants? It is the will of God for you not to get anywhere close to any intentional experience of any sexual passion of any sort, at any level, outside of marriage. Let’s teach them while they’re young: better Christians than you have fallen to fornication. Have the wisdom to plan your day in such a way as to avoid temptation situations. Have the humility to see that when you tell yourself you can handle it, you’re telling yourself a lie

Controlling the body is a universal priority

Controlling the body involves an unnatural process

      That requires honesty, mastery, and humility

THIRD Controlling the body requires an unusual perspective

⁴ that each one of you know how to control his own body 

The phrase translated “control his own body” literally means “possess his own vessel.” There’s a small chance that you have a translation of the Bible that renders the phrase as “take his own wife” or some equivalent. It’s a small chance because almost all modern translations choose some version of “control his own body.” If you need to have a conversation about the technical reasons for that, meet me at the door. Right here you we’re just taking it as “control his own body.”

Still, it’s worth knowing that the word is literally “vessel” or “dish.” Paul’s use of the word “vessel” shows an unusually healthy perspective on the human body that we need to adopt

CSLewis: Man has held three views of his body. First there is that of those who called it the prison or the “tomb” of the soul, to whom it was… a source of nothing but temptation to bad men and humiliation to good ones. Then there are the Neo-Pagans [and]… the nudists…, to whom the body is glorious. But thirdly we have the view which St. Francis expressed by calling his body “Brother Ass.” All three [views] may be… defensible; but give me St. Francis for my money

     [The word] ass is exquisitely right because no one in his senses can either revere or hate a donkey. It is a useful, sturdy, lazy, obstinate, patient, lovable, and infuriating beast; deserving now the stick and now a carrot; both pathetically and absurdly beautiful. [And] so [it is with] the body.

This truth is right down at the core of biblical teaching about learning to control the body.      Your body is neither a hero nor a villain; it’s just a pack mule. Your body is a vessel, a tool, a utensil, a pretty handy gadget – no more, no less. Don’t idolize your body; don’t demonize it; just utilize it to the glory of God

That’s an unusual perspective in this self-worshipping and body-obsessed age. But it’s a biblical perspective, and a healthy one.

Controlling the body is a universal priority

Controlling the body involves an unnatural process

Controlling the body requires an unusual perspective

FOURTH Controlling the body unlocks a unique potential

 ⁴ that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 

When you control your body, something powerful happens.

You Honor God

A life of purity is pleasing to Him.

When people live only by instinct, they act like there is no accountability. But when a believer lives with self-control, it reflects God’s design.

It becomes, in Scripture’s language, a “pleasing aroma” to Him.

You Influence Others

A disciplined life stands out.

When a church is filled with people who live this way—who show restraint, wisdom, and purity—the world notices.

Families are stronger. Relationships are healthier. Lives are steadier.

And people begin to say, “There is something different here.”

That difference points to Christ.

You Experience Freedom

This is important.

The world says, “freedom means doing whatever you want.”

Scripture says: “Freedom means not being ruled by your desires.”

A person controlled by impulse is not free; he is a slave. A person who can say “no” or “yes” wisely and consistently to accomplish the goals that God has made him for is experiencing true liberty.

Self-control is not bondage. It is freedom.

Controlling the body is a universal priority

Controlling the body involves an unnatural process

     (That requires honesty, mastery, and humility)

Controlling the body requires an unusual perspective

Controlling the body unlocks a unique potential

cobclusion

We began our time together today with a little boy named Lorenzo who had a disease known as ALD. At first, there was no treatment at all. Then, for several years, the only way it could reliably be controlled was by bone marrow transplant, a treatment that lets doctors strip a patient’s entire immune system down to nothing, and start over with just basic stem cells.

On the moral and spiritual level, something like bone marrow transplant is what some folks here today might need to find  freedom and victory in the realm of sexual self-control: Take the entire history of how you have handled your body sexually and simply surrender it to God. Whatever mistakes you’ve made, whatever, abuses you have endured (or inflicted), whatever perversions or iniquities you have indulged in, give them to Jesus. His most beloved acts of mercy and compassion were specifically to sexually broken people. He went to the cross so he could take those things away from you and give you a new start.

Perhaps you have no sexual history at all that you need to give to God. Perhaps you’ve never even had sex, or at least, not in the last thirty years. And maybe that’s exactly the place where the Lord needs to come to you and do some healing, if you’re frustrated or disappointed or angry or heartbroken about it. Take it to the cross.

Ryan mentioned last week an issue of sexual self-control that affects the majority of men and even some women in America today, even in churches like this one: pornography. God wants you free of that. The gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen again, is good news for you. Nail that habit to his cross and let him give you a new life. If you need help, reach out. We’ll help.

No doubt this has been the weirdest sermon you’ve heard in quite some time. It might even have made you quite uncomfortable. I certainly haven’t been completely at ease! But it’s what God put in his word for us to talk about today.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,