1 Thessalonians 4:3-8

In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, Paul writes:

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Paul's call to sexual purity is earnest. In his commentary on sexual sin, New Testament scholar writes:

The man who carries on an act of impurity is not simply breaking a human code, nor even sinning against the God who at some time in the past gave him the gift of the Spirit. He is sinning against the God who is present at that moment, against the One who continually gives the Spirit. The impure act is an act of spite against God's good gift at the very moment it is being proffered....This sin is seen in its true light only when it is seen as a preference for impurity rather than a Spirit who is holy.

Buying Our Identity - Part 4

Here is the last installment from David Burns about how many individuals are looking to the marketplace for their identities. Here he explores whether freedom of choice is really freedom at all.

In the past, when identity was primarily conferred through external channels, most individuals found themselves greatly constrained in the extent to which they were in control over their identities. This scenario forms the basis of several movies based in small, rural towns where young adults are lured by the prospects of the big city where they can "find themselves," "prove themselves," or "be their own persons": in other words, where they can possess increased control over their identities. Yet, is the ability to construct one's self through one's own choices a freeing experience as it is commonly depicted? Some argue no. [Some], for instance, suggest that the contemporary self, based on choice and consumption, remains empty. Indeed, basing the self on consumption appears to be more enslaving than basing it on traditional means.

The ability to construct oneself...involves a significant amount of personal responsibility -- one must be adept at self-construction. A suboptimal choice can have potentially devastating effects on one's self, particularly "as consumer culture also speeds up and dislocates, through the fashion system, planned obsolescence and so on, any sense of what a 'right choice' might be today as opposed to last week or next week."

In the end, the self itself becomes a salable commodity. It is produced in the marketplace, and it is sold in the marketplace as a means to intimate relationships, social standings, jobs, or a career. Consequently, "In the rush of modern industrial society, and in the attempt to maintain our image as successful persons, we feel that we have lost touch with a deeper, more profound part of our beings. Yet, we feel that we have little time, energy, or cultural support to pursue those areas of life that we know are important."

I know I spent a lot of time on this, but, obviously, I think it is important to consider. As covenantal people, we are bound to God and one another and that covenant does - and has the right - to form us. We are no longer slaves to anything but Christ who is conforming us into his image (Romans 8:29). If we want to know who we are, we shouldn't look to the marketplace for that answer, but to our Father:

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him. (Romans 8:14-17)

May God's peace be with you. 

Prayer For Faith

Almighty and everlasting God, who not only gives every good and perfect gift, but also increases those gifts you have given; we most humbly ask you to increase in us the gift of faith, that we may truly believe in you, and in your promises; and that neither by our negligence or infirmity of the flesh, nor by grievous temptation, may we be driven from faith in our savior and Lord Jesus Christ. - Amen

Buying Our Identity - Part 3

This continues from yesterday, bringing David Burns words to emphasize how individuals can "buy" their identities:

Constructing one's identity through consumption activities affords individuals considerable freedom of self - freedom not typically available when the self is conferred by family, community, and religion. As opposed to a self based on external bases, a self based on consumption activities can be relatively easily adapted or changed at will. Indeed, an individual can often choose between a number or different possible selves. In order to change one's self, an individual need only add to or subtract from their accumulation of material goods and/or change their shopping activities. Individuals today, therefore, are faced with a heretofore unimaginable amount of freedom to select and construct what they would like their selves to be. Such freedom, however, is not without cost.

We'll finish this tomorrow.

Killing Sin

Taking a short break from the identity series...

Our pastor presented this to us on Easter Sunday: a multifaceted approach to killing sin. Emerging from an exposition of Colossians 3:5-8, the following steps provide the biblical essentials for mortifying sin. Sin will always be with us, but we should never settle for it in our lives. Go after it, find it, destroy it. Pursue righteousness.

A. Repent Confession

1 John 1:9 - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

B. Watch and Pray

Matthew 26:41 - Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

C. Starve and abandon sin, i.e.,flee temptation

Genesis 39:12 - She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me!" And he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside.
[Compare with...]
Proverbs 7:6-9 - For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.

D. Seek the help of others

Hebrews 3:13 - But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

E. Put on the "new self"

Ephesians 4:28 - He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.

F. Remember that old you is dead; a new you was raised with Christ (Rom. 6)

Romans 7:17 - As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but sin living in me.
Romans 6:12-13 - Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

Buying Our Identity - Part 2

Continuing from yesterday, here is more from David Burns on the influence of the consumer culture on our identity:

A key to the role of consumption activity in self-construction involves establishing a point of difference from others: to establish one's self as a distinct, independent entity. It is not sufficient merely to "keep up with the Joneses"; instead, it is necessary to be different from the Joneses, or in other words, to possess a self unique from others. Self-construction via consumption then not only concerns the quantity of goods consumed but also the extent to which the goods make "physical visible statements about the hierarchy of values to which their chooser subscribes." As a result, desires are often not for any particular product or quantities of products but for products that are "different." Indeed, [studies suggest]that "[s]hopping appears to have undergone re-skilling, from a management task defined by the shopper's ability to select "bargains" (or quantity at low cost), to a creative task defined by the shopper's ability to locate unusual, unstandardized, or personalized goods."

[In one study] it was observed that when given a choice of possessions, behaviors, and social activities of actual students, 84% of observers chose possessions as their initial cue when evaluating student's personalities. Furthermore, the observers who based their assessments on possessions produced more accurate assessments than those who used alternative cues. Within a consumer culture, through the avenue of symbolism, consumptive activity has seemingly become the primary avenue through which individuals evaluate their selves and others.

In other words: We are what we buy and we buy what we are. And in a postmodern culture where objective truth and meaning is dismissed for subjective truth and meaning, this should not be a surprise. If the only means of defining ourselves is through constructing that identity ourselves, then why not buy it. This means that personal identity can change based on change in fashion, trends, or anti-trends. The marketplace always drives towards the center to capture the lion's share of the market. As soon as enough people start to buy the thing that makes you different (and they will), you will have to move on, and find the new product that will make you different, make you "you" and become the person you think you should be. Until everyone else becomes like you...and the search continues.
Another post on this tomorrow. 

Buying Our Identity - Part 1

This post may seem to be a bit off-track, but I don't think it is. We've been discussing identity and this builds on that conversation.

One of the challenges of youth - and maturity - is finding our identity and, as believers, finding our identity in Christ. But in this consumer-driven, post-modern society, there are forces that can challenge us to find our identity elsewhere. David J. Burns wrote an insightful article on this topic, Self-Construction through Consumption Activities. It's an academic piece, but accessible. For brevity and flow, I left out most of the citations, but if you are interested, you can read the full account in The Self: Beyond the Postmodern Crisis (Paul C. Vitz & Susan M. Felch, editors).

As you read this, consider how our surfing of the web, scanning Amazon.com, or clicking on pop-up adds reveals something about ourselves.

In a postmodern society, the new foundation of the self is arguably presentation activity. Presentation is a personal choice through which one's chosen self can be established through displaying it to oneself and to others. The most commonly used channel through which presentation is used to construct one's self is through consumption activities. As Slater (1997) states, "Individuals must, by force of circumstances, choose, construct, maintain, interpret, negotiate, display who they are to be or be seen as, using a bewildering variety of material and symbolic resources." The link between consumption activities, specifically the acquisition of possessions, and the self has been recognized for some time. (Indeed, even Shakespeare recognized this relationship as Job did - arguably the oldest book in the Bible.) The difference with regard to the postmodern self is one of degree. For many today, consumption activities have become a primary, if not the only, channel for self-construction. 

Think about this. We often buy things to show the world what we value. These are all economic choices that tell the world about us and present an identity to others. In days past, the family, community, and religion were foundational in forming our personal identity. Today, more and more, it's Amazon, Walmart, and Google.

Burns writes: "In such a consumer culture, material possessions do not merely provide comfort or satisfy physical needs. Instead, they act primarily as tools in the process of self-construction, and only secondarily as a means to satisfy physical needs."

To be continued.