Home Improvement - I Thessalonians 4:1-8

"We urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you...God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor...God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you." A few years ago my wife and I purchased a new home. Because the house was newly built, there were many things we needed to do to it. We had to arrange our furniture in the house and hang pictures on the walls. We had to install blinds and curtains for all the windows in the house. We had to sod the yard so we would have grass growing on the lawn. We had to have the phone and cable installed. We did all this work to the house because we were the proud owners of a new home. Doing all this work to the house, however, did not make us homeowners. We did it because we were homeowners and we wanted to maintain the house in good condition so that it would be a clean and comfortable place for our family to live for many years. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are like the homeowners of God's place of residence. Therefore, we need to perform some home improvements to maintain God's house. God is holy--that is, He exists separate from His creation. As God's children, we too must be holy--living separate from the ways of this world. To be holy, we must, individually and corporately, lean hard on the Holy Spirit through spiritual disciplines like prayer, Bible study, and worship to enable us to live ethically and righteously and empower us to effectively proclaim the message gospel through our words and deeds. Now, being holy, living righteously, or doing good deeds does not "save" us. We do them because we are saved, because we are God's home, and we want to live in a way that pleases God.